As an illustrator, I've worked for companies like Target, Hallmark, The Wall Street Journal and Amazon.com. My bio, contact info, and portfolio is at: www.coyleart.com
I teach online classes in Adobe Illustrator on ReneePearson.com
My jazz website: www.lauracoylejazz.com
Content © Laura Coyle 2011
Your purchase via these links helps support this blog. Thank You!
If you missed the chat this Wednesday, you can watch here.
We had a lot of fun talking about designing for fabric, Kim answered bunches of attendee questions and a good time was had by all! Near the end, Kim gives a demonstration on using the Adobe Illustrator Recolor Artwork feature to mix up your color palettes and incorporate the Spoonflower Color Guide colors into your design.
A recent NYTimes article reviews a new exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery in DC: “In Vibrant Color: Vintage Celebrity Portraits From the Harry Warnecke Studio.” The exhibit showcases Warnecke's amazingly saturated color portraits of movie stars who are more familiar in black and white. Warnecke captured his images with a special camera and color process, long before color photography was available in consumer cameras.
These images have always seemed to me like a hybrid of illustration and photography, because the color is so graphic and almost hyper-real. For even more interesting browsing on the subject of these beautifully saturated 1940's images, here's a link to a Flickr gallery: The Carbro Printing Process.
Pinterest is fun and addictive - and it's becoming a hot topic for other reasons too. If you are interested in doing some reading, check out this long post on Fine Art Views to read about Pinterest's terms of service.
Over on LinkedIn in The Art of Licensing group, the discussion has been lively with lots of artists and an IP attorney weighing in. This all seems to be a good reminder to watermark or have copyright notice on anything you publish to the web. Re-pins mean that the original source of an image can get lost in the shuffle and may not lead back to you.
Plus, the license Pinterest has to use your work as stated in their terms of use, is very broad and irrevocable (meaning you can't just delete your image and terminate the license). The takeaway is that artists should be selective about what they pin from their collection of work. For work that you intend to sell, there may be a conflict if you want to sell an exclusive licence to work that you have in effect "licensed" to Pinterest.
Most agree though, that Pinterest is a wonderful resource and inspiring to use - and I've heard users driving lots of new traffic to their blogs through their pinning efforts. Here's a DeniseSonnenberg.com blog post about the upsides to using Pinterest.
If you remember those pouches of shredded bubble gum from when you were a kid, (I do!) you might enjoy reading about how it all got started. The part of the story that interests me the most of course, is the part where the illustrator creates a character for the packaging so endearing that it becomes a big part of the success of the brand. And the illustrator, Bill Mayer also happens to be from Atlanta!
Follow the link to the article on CollectingCandy.com to read the story behind Big League Chew and the amazing illustrator Bill Mayer.
To WordCamp Atlanta 2012! I'm going to try and cram a little more technical knowlege into my already brimming head space this weekend. Is there room in there for WordPress? Wish me luck, I think I'm going to need it!
I just ordered my first swatch of fabric printed from my own design at Spoonflower and I'm so excited to do more. It's one of those things I've been meaning to do for a few years. I wonder when I might get around to ordering something printed in 3-D.
This recent article in The Atlantic about 3-D printing caught my eye. I've been following the 3-D printing evolution since reading this fascinating article about it in the NYTimes.
The Atlantic article talks about the MakerBot D.I.Y. printer and envisions this technology becoming another household item. I'm less excited by the prospect of creating more plastic for the landfills, but if it allows you to recycle plastic, it might actually be environmentally friendly too.
And then there's the copyright issue. When files for designs can easily be distributed on-line for free and printed at home, the designer may lose out on profiting from their creation. As the technology improves and proliferates, another NYTimes article imagines the future of design and manufacturing as the Wild West: exciting and frought with all the intellectual property peril of the declining music business.
I can't help but look at it from all sides, I am constantly amazed at how much recent technology is rapidly changing our designing/working lives.
[photo by Benh Lieu Song]
If you enjoyed the Woody Allen movie and the fantasy of descending upon Paris and running with the likes of Hemingway, Cole Porter and Picasso, you might enjoy these links:
A NYTimes article with background and photos of the various luminaries that Owen Wilson encounters on his midnight outings.
And the story of Rosamund Bernier on NPR. Her time is after the twenties, but some of the characters are the same and the story is as good as a dream - only for her it was real life.
There is a wonderful documentary on Lynda.com now about Ed Emberly, one of my favorite illustrators whose books I used to pore over as a young artist.
If you are not a subscriber to Lynda, you can still watch the intro and the first of the three chapters: Getting to know Ed. It's an enlightening tour of his studio where he talks about his education and about using crowquill pens, brushes and woodcut. He also talks about striking out on his own as a children's illustrator and author.
In the other two chapters he talks about his style and the genesis of his "drawing alphabet" books for kids. You also get a peek at Ed talking to school kids, meet his family and see him collaborate on a book with his daughter. Ed Emberly also gives his entertaining take on adapting to changing technology and how it's affecting the market in publishing.
I want to take a moment to wish you a very happy new year! One of the highlights of 2011 for me was seeing my Illustrator classes and tutorials gain a steady following. I always feel lucky to make my living as an artist, but becoming a teacher of Illustrator and working with Renee and Kent Pearson has made me even more grateful to be in the creative field.
The sense of genuine community and support from those who have signed up for my classes, attended chats or subscribed to my YouTube tutorials has been an unexpected reward and continues to fuel my excitement about this new avenue in my career. I'm very grateful for your participation, encouragement and questions, and I'm looking forward to more classes and chats with you in 2012!
Wishing you all the best,
Laura Coyle
