Screen-Printing Workshop with Jeff Garcia

heya folks,

Jeff Garcia recently brought this to my attention:

I run a really fun, beginner to intermediate
screen-printing class for illustrators.

Check if out!
http://mangoepeeler.com/classes

The classes are held at my studio:
Contemporary Textile Studio Co-op
401 Richmond Street West, Suite 109, Toronto, Ontario

Mighty Inspiration: Link List

We all know about Drawn.ca but talking to some people students around school I've found that a lot of students illustration sites knowledge ends there.

So, my plan is to try and build a bigger illustration link list for those out there. A mix of sites that feature illustrators as well as illustrations, design/designers, and just good sites for those in the illustration field. Here's the catch: I don't want to just list out a huge list and have everyone copy it without anyone adding to it; the whole point of the mighty wall is to build a community and grow together. So, I will post 5 sites I know then leave the comments open for anyone to post up any sites they know. If we can get a decent list going I will keep on posting up more of my own links and together we can all build up a great list of sites to look at.

http://www.illustrophile.com/: almost daily features on illustrators. It's worth noting that illustrophile seems to love Sheridan illustrators and as of posting this 2 of the newest 3 posts are about Sheridan grads.

http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/ UK based blog that talks about various inspiring things in Europe right now. I find sites like this invaluable as their crappy commercials they've seen a million times are completely new to us.

http://thedailycrosshatch.com/: Comics news blog that focuses more on indie comics/comic creators and what is happening in the current indie comic industry.

http://art.blogging.la/ LA based blog with some reviews and previews about galleries and shows in the LA area. It's interesting to see what's happening on the west coast. And a good source of ideas for east coast shows.

http://linesandcolors.com/: It's basically the same idea as Drawn.ca but different articles and features. If you like Drawn then this is a good complementary site.

Ok, now it's your turn.

Mighty Inspiration: Design Inspiration

Design Inspiration is a really nice blog/site with a bunch of interviews of many popular designers and illustrators/artists. The questions in the interviews are actually really good questions like "What do you do to keep yourself motivated and avoid burn-out?" and "What makes a designed piece or illustration successful?" instead of some of the more quirky interview sites that ask things like "what is your favourite potato chip flavour?". The site hasn't been updated in a couple months but if you haven't checked out the site before it's certainly worth the read.

well, it looks like Design interviews is down. So if you didn't check out the site you might have lost your chance. To make up for the short lived post here is another good blog/site to look up. It's more design based then illustration, but it does have both illustrators and designers.

Bepo and Mimi have another show coming up! This one is called The First Sign of Spring. March 7-9 at the Gladstone Hotel (Toronto) with the opening being 7-10 on the Friday. Lots of Sheridan grads and teachers are in the show and looking at the teaser art work it looks like some really good stuff.

for more info check out:
http://www.bepoandmimi.com/shows.html

Gladstone Hotel
1214 Queen st W
(it's right near a subway stop and easy to drive to)

Illustration Movie Nights! More and more!

This Friday at 6pm we have Raging Bull (in B124, just beside Tim Hortens). If you haven't seen it, and you enjoy anything that DeNiro has ever done then this is something you should see. Julia has also hooked me up with a list of tentative movies in no particular order:
*Alfred Hitchcock's Rear Window
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
*Ridley Scott's Blade Runner or Alien (haven't decided yet...)
*In the Realms of the Unreal - A documentary on Henry Darger, visionary artist, janitor, and novelist.
*Helvetica - A documentary about typography, graphic design, and global visual culture.
*All About Eve - a fantastic Bette Davis film
Billy Wilder's Sunset Boulevard

This looks like a pretty solid list of movies covering pretty much every movie taste out there. And if nothing else you should check out Helvetica, I've heard so much positive reviews on the movie that I wouldn't pass it up.

Getting back on track

Sorry for taking a while to post things. I have been hit by cold after cold.
Anyways, things should pick up here again. There are a couple interesting things coming down that should be cool.

Freelance advice from a Freelance artist

This might be a bit old school for some of you as this was posted on a bunch of sites a few months ago. But I recently was going through some of my bookmarks and reread the article and I believe the information is extremely valuable.

Dave Roman is an amazingly talented artist who's work has appeared in such books as Flight, Agnes Quill, and Nickelodeon Magazine. Dave is also the associate editor, comics associate, and a writer for Nickelodeon Magazine. So in short, he has had more then a bit of experience in the illustration work and he knows his stuff.

The article itself is quite long and detailed but every word in the article is pure gold. Dave covers everything from portfolios to how to work with an art director, from media recommendations to how to advertise yourself online, and everything in between. And unlike many books out there which are years old, technophobic, or written from "old man" perspective/about the industry years ago, but Dave's article is about as current and relevant as possible.

So if you have a moment of free time then go and read the article. If you're busy at the moment then bookmark it and go back to it once you are free.

http://www.yaytime.com/guide_freelance.html

Free Friday Movies

Julia Breckenreid has started up Free Movie Fridays open to all illustration students. Each Friday the goal will be to show a classic or highly influential movie in B124 (up on the big screen, just like a theater).

Last week was ever classic Stanley Kubrick's The Shining. This week is to be determined but once Julia gets me the list of what's playing this/later weeks I will post it up here.

New Years Update

Sorry for the long time without an update. I was out of commission with getting my portfolio and site ready and then going out of the country for a bit.

Mighty wall should be up-to-date with links. Still up at school is the Zombies edition theme. I will keep it up for the first week back so if you did anything over the break you can pin it up. I will post the new theme as soon as I figure it out so you can spend the last week of your break working on it between all those personal projects you have the chance to do right now. Anyone else with links or news about upcoming shows, sites, or events, just comment here or drop me an e-mail at

To kill some time here's an interesting link I've found:
What the Font is a nice site that allows you to upload pictures and the site will figure out what font was used. Great tool in graphic design class for figuring out a logo font so you can use it in the body copy.

Mighty Wall Links

The Mighty Wall link list is growing wonderfully this year! But for those of you who haven't gotten on the list let me provide you with a place to comment or e-mail for me to get your information.

HERE

Comment to this post or e-mail me at Craig.Arndt@gmail.com
Please remember to post your first and last name (as you want it on the link list), your URL, and your year. If you have more then one link you want up (a blog and a website, or different types of blogs) then let me know of both of them and when the link list gets more organized I may be able to get both of them up in different categories.

For those of you without a blog or anything online I highly recommend getting something. It takes seconds to make and is an excellent way to promote yourself to an international client base. IF you are afraid of some of the sites Terms of Service and the rights you may be extending to them by posting your work then you may want to look into getting your own website (They can be as cheap as $3 a month) orDeviantart.com/Flickr.com. Both are very popular and many industry professionals have gone over the TOS with a fine tooth comb to make sure nothing sneaky is going on. Once you have a place to host your images then you can easily cross post your work onto more blogs such as LiveJournal, or even here on Blogger. All this takes maybe 30 minutes to set up, and a boring afternoon to check out the sites TOS to make sure you're happy with them.

Art Jam+ Free Admission = a Party!

Amanda Sheehan, Lauren Rowlands, and Tyrel McNicol have organized a massive FREE art jam for Friday, November 23rd, at the cage/conneXion. Open to all years the idea is to just have fun, jam, and mix with your fellow illustration students. Remember to bring your own supplies, but some surfaces will be provided to draw/paint upon (I'd recommend doing a value village run to grab some fun things to paint on). Here is the rundown quickly.
When:November 23rd, at 8pm
Where: At the cage/connexion
Who: Table of Elements, the breakdance group, will be performing.
and POSSIBLE attendees include: Joe, Clemente, and some big names from Conceptart.org/deviantart.com
Who else: Open to all years, and other artist are welcome too.
What (to eat/drink): It's the conneXion, so the bar will be in full swing, and the event is also a potluck so bring your own food to share but remember to label things with ingredients for safety (allergies) and courtesy (non-meat eaters).

Personally, I think this is one of the best ideas I've heard all year. It's a great chance for the younger years to see who's in the program, make some friends, and learn what's coming up in the future years ahead. And for the veterans it's a great chance to see the up and coming students, network, and meet your future competition/co-workers. Ask any teacher, Illustration is a small world, so why not do yourself a favour and have some fun while introducing yourself to our small part of it.

Mighty wall contest winner

The very talented 3rd year student Bryce Huffman is the winner of the "writting on the wall" contest. In the not too distant future you should see his awesome work up on the mightywall as our title bar.
Check out more of Bryce's work here. It's certainly worth the peek.

Mightywall Contest Extension

We're going to extend the "writing on the wall" contest till after reading week just to give everyone a chance to do something over the break. It just seemed a bit odd to end the contest right before everyone has some spare time to work on it.

Fall Back Show

Looking for a new pillow? Then check out the Fall Back show Oct. 30-31st at the Gladstone Hotel. The Fall Back Show is an exhibit featuring some of the top North American illustrators displaying artwork on pillows! Featuring the work of such illustrators as: Sandra Dionisi, Julia Breckenreid, Joe Morse, and more. It should definately be worth the peek.

Sandra Dionisi Show extended

Due to popular demand, Sandra's show has been extended from oct. 12th to friday November 1st.
Honestly, it's worth the peek if you have the spare time over break.

Mighty Wall "Writting on the Wall" Contest

The Mighty Wall looks great with all the artwork up on it right now, but the wall itself is looking a little drab. So we've decided to hold a little contest open to any and all illustration students.

What: Design a title block for the mighty wall to be painted up on the wall by the winner. This is your change to leave a lasting impression on the walls of Sheridan... or just to paint on the walls and not get in trouble. Make sure to have "The Mighty Wall" in your design and bonus points if you can work "mightywall.blogspot.com" into the design.
when: The contest will be going on for the next 2 weeks.
where: post your designs up on the wall or e-mail digital submissions to craig.arndt@gmail.com
who: at the end of the 2 weeks a panel of teachers and students will judge the submissions and declare a winner

Any questions, feel free to reply to this post or e-mail Craig.Arndt@gmail.com

best of luck!

Sandra Dionisi - Lid's Beauty is a 4 Letter Word

Barberella Salon, Toronto, September 27th - October 12, 2007

(Only your hairdresser knows)

Turning a personal eye to the culture of beauty, The Bepo + Mimi Project presents

Lid's, Beauty is a 4 Letter Word - a collection of original works and objects by Sandra Dionisi

Opening Reception Thursday, September 27th 7PM - 10PM

The Bepo + Mimi Project is dedicated to increasing the presence of original artwork in business and day-to-day life.

Please follow this link for your downloadable invite: http://www.bepoandmimi.com/shows.html

Hope to see you there,

Sandra

ABCs of 3rd year

Juan Solon took a huge initiative this summer and gathered together a group of 3rd years to post up a letter each for an Illustrative ABC. The alphabet is unfortunately incomplete due to some people getting bogged down with other projects, but the amount of stuff up is great and definitely worth the peek. http://theabceez.blogspot.com/

(The picture shown is V by Bryce Huffman)

Student Show: Bryce Huffman and Peter Yuill At Loose Cannon

Once a month James St. North in Hamilton hosts an art crawl between the 8 or so galleries that line the street. One of the main draws to the art crawl is the various show openings that happen and this month 3rd year Interpretive students Bryce Huffman and Peter Yuill will be featured over at the Loose Cannon gallery.

Time and Place
Date: Friday, September 14, 2007
Time: 7:00pm - 10:00pm
Location: Loose Canon Gallery, or the one next to it.
150 James S. N. (at Cannon)
City/Town: Hamilton, ON

If you can't make it on Friday then stop by whenever you can, the art scene on James St. North is always hopping and you can always pick up some supplies or books/zines at Mixed Media

Student Gallery Is Starting Up Again

Many of you may remember from last year that Julia Breckenreid has taken it upon herself to run a small gallery of student work in the Illustration halls by the Jam wall. Well this year she's doing it again and is now taking proposals. These spots went quickly last year so I recommend getting together a couple of friends and tossing together a proposal quickly. Last year there were wall displays as well as tabletop displays (I will try to verify if that is the case this year) but you can check it out for yourself in the hallway beside A138.

For ideas of what you can do check out this show last year done with recent grad superstars James Provost, Tessar Lo, Nataly Kim, Greg Hill, and Rey Ortega at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/trickyrey/408500014/in/set-72157600044970692/

a quick Copy and paste proposal form:

Student Name(s):
Year:
Proposed week of show:
Theme (if any):
Summary: