Check out Joel!

Our lovely illustration professor was recently featured in Memphis Crossroads Magazine's arts issue as one of Memphis's Top Twenty Untapped Artists. You can check out the magazine online in PDF format by clicking here. Also featured are MCA Professor Cynthia Thompson and student Tommy Kha.

Quentin Blake

Here's a swell video of Quentin Blake talking about his process and the purpose of children's picture books. It's always nice to hear a master of a craft discussing their own work, and it's even better when you can see them working.

Ben Shahn's Allegory

I should have posted this a couple weeks ago, when I asked the Illustration 5 & 6 students to read "Biography of a Painting" from Shahn's excellent book, The Shape of Content. Here's an image of the painting that is the subject of that article:
Nice, eh?

While I'm on the subject, here's an interesting page that shows Shahn's use of photo-references, which might be of interest to the Illustration 1 classes.

National Portfolio Day

NPDA Broadside Competition groups are out! They are as follows: (designer / photographer / illustrator)

Alison Castle / Rumi Schultz / Matt Ryan & Josh Duncan
Gina Davis / Megan Snider & Khalifa West / Kayla Cline
Andrew Lebowitz / Michael Peery & Trinity Poole / Michael Vinson
Juliana Lynch / Katie Massey / Devin Taylor
Madison McElroy / Melinda Topilko / Lauren Rae Holtermann & Marie Lauver
Kassey Pass / Natalie Hoffmann / Paul Holiday
Kevin Reuter / Brian Wittmus / Alex Barton
Meredith Shields / Tommy Kha / Marie Provence
Ryan Stewart / Alecia Walls & Maggie Russell / Elliot Boyette
Samantha Taggart / Anna Hollis & Jordan Hood / Rory Ann Austin

In the Mail

For all the glories of electronic communication, there's still nothing like a great postcard to bring your work to the attention of an art director or client. Illustration Promotions is a site that collects these postcards for your enjoyment and edification. There will probably be a lot of promotional postcards in your future, so it's worth developing ideas for them, now.

Wild Things, Influenced

Given the affectionate interest expressed in a certain forthcoming movie, I thought this blog might be of interest.

In October 2009 Spike Jonze’s feature film rendition of Maurice Sendak’s classic story Where The Wild Things Are will hit movie theaters worldwide. The film represents years of work from hundreds of different artists, writers, photographers, musicians, actors, and creators of all degrees. This place has been established to help shed some light on many of the small influences that have converged to make this massive project a reality.

We Love You So via Drawn!

Vintage Tooncast

Source of inspiration or procrastination? You make the call. Lots and lots of great old cartoons ripe for the viewing at Vintage Tooncast.

Illustration Annual 2010!

Well, kids, it's that time again. Time for the ol' 2010 Communication Arts Illustration Competition submissions! Just what does this sharky image have to do with Communication Arts magazine? Furthermore, what does it have to do with me? (By "me" I mean "you") This sharky image happens to be the work of Frank Stockton, a fantastic illustrator living and working in New York. He created the illustration on the cover of the 2009 Illustratin Annual. He's so good he'll make you want to quit. Just don't. There's an interesting interview here at http://www.lostateminor.com/. Check him out! And check out lostateminor.com as well! They have lots of great guest illustrators/writers.