MassArt Illustration

April 27, 2015
by alice.stanne
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Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship Winners

The Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship Show is the most prestigious competition for illustration students in the country. Of nearly 7600 entries less than 200 pieces were selected to be part of the exhibition which will take place in NYC at the Society of Illustrators museum and also be printed in the show catalog.

The Illustration Department is pleased to announce that Victoria Maxfield and Domenic Civiello, both Juniors, have the honor of being selected to be included in the show!

DomVic03We asked Victoria and Domenic to talk about their work to get some insight into the art they created for the projects.
Maxfield_Victoria_02Victoria Maxfield

The Swallow and Other Birds was for the final assignment in Editorial Illustration with Scott Bakal. We were required to illustrate any two Aesop’s fables. This piece illustrates the fable “The Swallow and the Other Birds.”

The swallow warns the other birds to eat the hemp seeds that a farmer is sowing. The birds disregard the swallow and the hemp grows. The farmer makes the hemp into rope that is used to make a net; the net is used to capture the birds. The moral of the fable is “Destroy the seed of evil, or it will grow up to your ruin.” I chose this fable to illustrate because I wanted to draw a lot of birds but I also think the moral of this fable is especially relevant right now: Stop burning fossil fuels and eating meat, or earth will become uninhabitable.

I am so excited that the Society picked it to be a part of the student scholarship show and looking forward to the reception and meeting the other winners in May!

Victoria’s image, The Swallow and other Birds, was chosen for the cover of this year’s Society of Illustrators Student Scholarship catalog! This is a great honor. The Illustration department congratulates Victoria!

www.victoriamaxfield.com

civiello_domenic_03Domenic Civiello

Botanical South America is an info-graphic illustrated map made to characterize and capture the immense landscape, jungle and botanical life that thrive on the continent of South America.

The map was created in Professor John Roman’s Technical Illustration course. I set out to assemble all the information and organize many different items of interest into a simplified, legible and fun image.

Botanical South America utilizes a variety of media including graphite, ink, watercolor, and digital. After many attempts, I was able to achieve the right solution to organize the different plant life specific to each South American country. To emphasize the plants and add to the character of the image, I incorporated random edges to the lines the outside of the continent, which gave the map an organic and natural shape as plants might have, while also maintaining the actual shape of the continent.

 

A dirt path weaves in and out of all the countries, between the plants and rivers, replicating a sense of adventure for the viewers as they travel deep in the jungles of South America.

www.domciviello.com

April 24, 2015
by alice.stanne
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Field Trip to Candlewick Press

On April 21st Pamela Consolazio, a design director from Candlewick Press, hosted two sections of Junior Illustration at their office in Davis Square. Candlewick is a high quality, independent publisher of more than 3,000 remarkable children’s books such as Guess How Much I Love You and I Want My Hat Back.
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The students got to see how a picture book is created, from thumbnails and storyboards through production and printing, as well as an inside look at how the design team finds, chooses, and collaborates with their illustrators. We saw amazing original artwork and sketches in development from several of the illustrators they are working with currently. Huge thanks to the three designers who spoke with us for being so  generous with their time, their process, and their suggestions for how to work this field.
field_trip_b

April 24, 2015
by alice.stanne
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Visiting Artist – Sally Dean

On April 13th, Irena Roman’s Senior Illustration class hosted artist Sally Dean, who in addition to being a wonderful and versatile artist is the great granddaughter of Walter Smith, the founder of MassArt!
Sally-Dean-30-Paintings-AlphabetSally presented a PowerPoint show about her bright, colorful imagery and the variety of media she uses as an artist to achieve the look she’s after, including acrylics, watercolor and mosaics. She also shared some original artwork.

Sally straddles the line between “fine artist” and “illustrator” and her subject matter ranges from people, to animals to landscapes. Her clients range from private collectors to corporations and institutions.

You can see more of Sally’s work on her blog and website.

April 23, 2015
by alice.stanne
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2015 Eye for Illustration Panel Discussion

The 2015 Eye for Illustration panel discussion took place April 22nd in the Kennedy Conference Room, which was filled with juniors and senior Illustration majors.

Six professionals with expertise from a variety of areas/markets made up the panel and spoke in depth about working with illustrators. They gave great advice to young illustrators trying to break into the business from their unique perspective. A lengthy and enlightening question and answer segment followed. In addition, the students had an opportunity to meet each professional, look at the samples they brought and exchange business cards.

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The panelists included:

Ami Bennit   (Moderator) Senior Account Executive of Ashmont Media and the Principal of Motor Media & Management

Susan McCabe   Artist’s Rep, Lilla Rogers Studio

Ashley Zimmerman
 and Michel Steingisser   Designers, Dinardo Design

George Restrepo
   Design Director, Northeastern University

Tak Toyoshima  Art Director , The Dig and creator of Secret Asian Man

Panel1

It was an enjoyable and informative event and the Illustration department hopes to do this again next year!

April 17, 2015
by alice.stanne
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Visiting Artist – Seth Apter

Last month Bob Maloney’s Experimental Illustration class hosted mixed media artist Seth Apter.

Seth_Apter

Seth spoke to the students about his process and brought several of his works for the students to view, including his incredible artist’s book, Handbook as well as a beautiful found object piece, and several of his sketchbooks. More of Seth’s work can be viewed his website as well as his blog The Altered Page.

April 13, 2015
by alice.stanne
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Anatomy Lab

Thanks in part to Illustration Assistant Professor, Jesse Thompson, as well as Librarians Paul Dobbs and Greg Wallace, there is now an Anatomy Lab set up in the Library, on the 12th Floor of the Tower Building!

anatomy lab poster2

March 20, 2015
by alice.stanne
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An Evening of Noodling & Doodling

At the beginning of March the Illustration department hosted an installment of our new monthly live drawing series ‘Noodle & Doodle.’ In these open drawing sessions students have a chance to practice drawing the figure from musicians who are also their peers. The evening was a success, with several students showing off not only their drawing talent, but their musical talent as well.

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noodle-doodle3Faculty member Ric Allendorf even performed a few songs!

noodle-doodle4Drawing by Zach Kremer ’16

February 23, 2015
by alice.stanne
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Sustainable Microgrants

Juniors in Linda Bourke’s Illustration class partnered with Professor Jane Marsching to create images to advertise Sustainability Microgrants. William Wolfman’s image was chosen for the flyer.
If you have an idea for a project, apply for one of the grants!
MICROGRANTS Will Wolfman

Junior Illustration - Microgrants

January 30, 2015
by alice.stanne
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Black Walnut Ink; My Attraction with Extraction

Written by Visiting Lecturer Ric Allendorf

IMG_8479“Inking is meditation in liquid form.”   – J.H. Everett

Snow is piling-up crisp and white, like paper. Another semester returns and I’m swept in the anticipation of teaching two more sections of Media Techniques; a course that creates the perfect environment for students to connect with new materials and movement, deconstruct their discomforts and habits, then liberate a steadier and more distinct voice of expression.

Muscles move the medium; medium moves the message.

To prepare for classes, I often begin with a forensic-level of curiosity about the materials. The more that is known about ingredients and properties of a given medium, the more we can encourage known behaviors – or introduce a catalyst to resist, distort, or deviate from the expected flow.

These discoveries find their way back to the class either in the form of a demo, an exercise prompt, or as actual supplies that I’m anxious to share. In recent years, students and some faculty have been on the receiving end of my obsession with homemade black walnut ink.

Continue reading to learn more about black walnut ink.

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