NYC: Number Two

My goodness! The time is really flying by! I have learned and seen so much I feel as if I have been here longer than just two weeks! So, this last week, I continued with my internship. Ran some art supply errands for Brett, and went to the NY library to their picture library, which was really cool! They have a section in the library of pictures. Pictures from history, architecture, people, clothing, marathons, food, anything you can imagine. It really was incredible and I took a long time just looking at all these pictures. Anyway, he sent me there to get some reference photos for a personal project he is working on. 

I also had my own private painting demo. He painted a head/character study from start to finish just to show me his process. 

Among other things, I went to the Cloisters museum, a branch of the Met showing only Medieval art. It was a really interesting museum, because it was built to look like a medieval castle, and it was in the greenest, quietest part of Manhattan I have been to so far. Definitely my element.

Other things I did this week: I ate Puerto Rican Mofongo

I explored Brooklyn (where my internship is) and found the Brooklyn Library and the Brooklyn Art Museum

Visited two artists, Chris Buzelli (http://www.chrisbuzelli.com/) and, in Queens, Sam Wolfe Connelly.  One an editorial illustrator, the other a fine artist/ gallery artist. It was cool to see the different perspectives, and get an idea for different kinds of art and illustration.

I went to the Museum of Modern Art, which I actually enjoyed a lot.

And the Guggenheim, which I enjoyed less so, but the building itself was amazing. This seal on the floor of the main entry summarizes the whole thing. 

I ate at the Magnolia Bakery on Avenue of the Americas, and people watched on Times Square. Oh, I also helped the missionaries here with a little project in Union Square Park. We drew out the plan of salvation while they talked to passerby. I don't know how successful it was, I was too busy drawing to talk to people, but we sure attracted a lot of attention, and the missionaries seemed pretty busy. It was fun to do, and be a part of something like that. Very cool experience for me. 

SO that was my week. One more week to go!

NYC: The First Chapter

One week down as an intern in New York City. I have had the wonderful opportunity to come to experience life in the Big Apple, to shadow an amazing illustrator whose work I have admired since I was a child. I am working for Brett Helquist. He has given me some amazing advice, and really taken me under his wing. I am energized and recommitted to this path I have chosen to walk because of his encouragement. If you would like to see some of his work, go to http://www.bretthelquist.com/ or his blog at http://bretthelquist.blogspot.com/ which I will be updating for him sometimes.
Anyways, this city has so much to do and to see! I have had a hard time figuring out how to fit everything in!
So far, I have: spent a whole day at the Met

sketched animals in the Natural History Museum

been to the Manhattan Temple

walked and sketched all through Central Park

been to Little Italy

eaten in Chinatown

walked across the Manhattan Bridge

Took the obligatory selfie in Times Square

seen Rockefeller Center with wonderful friends

and finally, somehow found myself at the NY ComicCon. 

(prints by Colin Lawler)

Everyday here has been filled with wonder. I'm serious about that, I am amazed at how tall buildings can get, how many people can fit in a subway car, how beautiful the sky can look through skyscrapers, how thick van Gogh painted and how beautiful New Yorkers are.
Here's to round two.

Belle

“I said: "He cannot be so bad if he loves roses so much."

"But he is a Beast," said Father helplessly.

I saw that he was weakening, and wishing only to comfort him I said, "Cannot a Beast be tamed?” 

--From Beauty by Robin McKinley

I loved painting this piece. Based on one of my favorite fairy tales, and modeled by one of my beautiful friends, I have always wanted to put this character down on canvas. 

Painting Finals

The last semester included a head painting class, about which I have posted before. Instead of it being a class about how to paint the human head like I thought it was going to be, it was more of a class about color and composition, and mostly about light and how it acts within a space around physical objects. It just happens to use the human head as the physical object. I thoroughly enjoyed and was completely frustrated by this class. But something I have learned:  I love light. I love painting light. more than anything else, different colored light in a situation creates the narrative, mood and attitude of a piece. I want to learn more about how to manipulate and use light in my work.
Here are some of the final paintings I did for that class.
I have tried in vain to get good pictures of the paintings, but alas, I have some work to do in that department. Any tips on photographing oil paintings would be appreciated!

#JLaw

Just some digital painting practice. Katniss Everdeen aka. Jennifer Lawrence

Blood spattered and looking for vengeance.

Mistborn

I recently finished reading the Mistborn trilogy by Brandon Sanderson (I recommend his books to everyone), and I loved them so much I decided to do an assignment in class based on these books. I used both Illustrator and Photoshop to complete it. After the class was over, I decided to work on it some more, and now I think it is in a really good spot. So here is my Mistborn piece, Out of the Mist.

Throwback

In the spirit of #tbt I decided to share some memories from one of the most life changing experiences of my life. Last summer, I spent a month in Peru as a volunteer for a non profit called Help International. I went with the desire to forget about myself. Leading up to that time I was spending a lot of time doing things, everyday, just for me. I was getting so selfish, I couldn't stand living with myself. So I decided to change things, and I thought a good way to get me out of those bad habits would be to immerse myself in humanitarian work away from everything I knew.

I signed up to go to Peru. The country my father spent two years of his life in, serving a mission for the LDS Church (mormon.org). I knew some spanish, so I thought it would be a good place for me to go.

While I was there, I fully expected to just be assigned to random projects, just as a volunteer. That happened,  I did many odd jobs, from teaching hygiene classes to assisting in special needs classrooms. Then, the opportunity arrived for me to be in charge of my own project. We were told about a sort of home for boys in the city of Piura, and we started teaching english to these boys, ages 8 to 17. I was impressed by the energy of these silly boys, and they became my friends. They reminded me of my little brother, and I really grew to love them as my own brothers. I wanted to do something more lasting for them, because honestly, I don't think they got very much from our english lessons. I decided I wanted to do something I was good at, something that would last, and something they could help with. Their home was very dull, very dusty and brown. A home for little boys should not be so colorless, I thought. I wanted to bring some color to their lives.
So I planned a mural.

It's not an artistic masterpiece by any means, not even close. But its definitely a mark of friendship and symbolic of the love I felt for those boys. I hope they know that and can see that, even now, when they walk by it everyday.
What follows is a visual chronicle of the experience. Some of the work and a lot of the goofing off is pictured.

The before picture:

Painting the Wall blue:

Painting the tree: I drew the outline and the boys kind of filled it in. Quite enthusiastically; they were extremely eager to help out in any possible way. 

Handprinted leaves:

Painting the far left wall: An outline of one of the boys on the wall, I wanted to symbolize empowerment, possibility, and excitement for the future in a simple design. I'm not sure if I succeeded, but it was definitely fun to paint (and be painted) with all those colors.

Lastly, the type: Typography rules go out the window (sorry!) when all you have is some tape and black paint on a brick wall. But they turned out pretty well, thanks to the awesome work of some of the other volunteers. 

Victor also thought he would help with the type... in his own personal way :)

The (almost) finished mural: The only picture I was able to get before I left! It was finished, but just too dark to get a full picture of the completed project on my last evening there. 

And the whole group, all the volunteers, the boys and the Padre (Luis) of the facility. 

Again, this was one of the best experiences I have ever had in my life. I learned that it is not what you have that makes you happy, it is the way you choose to live your life, and the way you treat those around you that really brings happiness. The friendships you make will last into the eternities, so make them with that in mind. 

You have a lasting effect on those around you. Human beings are impressionable people, so treat others with kindness. You may just change their lives forever, as these boys did to me.