William Marchant

TigerHawks - MU & KU Fans Coming Together for the Cure!

I did these shirts for the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure in St. Louis this past Saturday.  Our team/group was made up of half Mizzou fans and half Kansas fans.  So we thought that combining the two rival mascots would be pretty neat...and something that really has never been done; at least that I've seen.  My brother said it best when I showed him the shirts, "It's bittersweet."  We thought about doing "JayTigers" but that didn't have a nice ring to it...plus Mizzou needs to go first, right!  Sidenote: When designing the logo, it was a pleasure cutting off the jayhawk's head!

So the shirts were a big hit at the race/walk!  A lot of people were even stopping us to take pictures, haha.

But, on the more important side, the race was an AMAZING experience.  I've never been a part of something that large and for such a great cause.  There was a part of the walk where the people in front of you were on an incline and you could see the massive river of people cutting through downtown St. Louis (picture below)...you couldn't help but get teary-eyed.  

There is not a single person that I know who hasn't been some way connected to breast cancer...whether it was a mom who passed away, a grandma who survived, or even just a friend who had a scare.  I was thinking while we were walking the 5K, it's been like 30 years since the Susan Komen for the Cure began, and I really hope that this race doesn't go on year after year and get to a 50th Anniversary race.  It would be nice if a cure was found and there was a big "finale" race or something.  Or if it became "We Found a Cure!" race...that would be awesome!

That's what I hope for at least.

St. Louis Artists' Guild Collectors Choice X

Collectors Choice X offers an opportunity for art collectors. With the purchase of one ticket, two people can attend two parties, plus receive one piece of art valued at $250 or more. Tickets are limited to the number of donated original art works. (You are guaranteed one piece of art for each ticket you hold.)

Opening Party & Silent Auction: Friday, May 20, 2011, 6:00pm – 9:00pm
6:00pm – 7:00pm (artists, ticket holders and VIP), 7:00pm – 9:00pm (open to public)

Catering St. Louis provides hors d’oeuvres, wine and refreshments while you review your favorite art pieces donated by regional artists.

Live music by St. Louis Classical Guitar Society.

Selection of Collectors Choice Art: Sunday, June 12, 2011
Doors Open 11:00am Art Selection begins 1:00pm

Names of ticket buyers are chosen at random and when your name is called you can choose one of the available pieces of art! (One piece of art for each ticket purchased.)

Live music by Barefoot Jones.

Tickets: $165

Read more about Collectors Choice

For additional information, please call 314-727-6266.

MARCH 2011 St. Louis Illustrators Meeting A New Mobile Art Form

I specifically remember seeing the New Yorker cover to the left by David Hockney last Fall and saying to my girlfriend, "What the hell is that doing on the cover of the New Yorker!"  I then read that it was done on an iPhone and sent directly to the A.D. from the phone...to which I responded, "Who gives a crap?  It looks like shit."

Well, last night's meeting of the St. Louis Artists' Guild Illustrators Section gave me a whole new perspective on the medium.  Michael Anderson, architectural illustrator and Plein Air landscape painter, gave a presentation on his iPad about such "mobile drawings."  Anderson presented two programs/applications that he uses: Brushes and Sketchbook Pro.  (His iPhone, iPad, and Tablet creations are seen below)

I came to respect this medium, first, because of its Impressionist qualities.  Yes, the illustration for the New Yorker cover isn't the coolest illustration I've ever seen, nor is it a style that is particularly striking to me.  But it gets across an idea.  It is a picture of a spoon in a bowl on a table with a chair pulled in.  That's that...you have a picture of something that was created by a person drawing on a digital device.  While this may not seem too ground breaking, consider the alternative: A picture of a spoon in a bowl on a table that was drawn loosely with a pencil.  That's not too special either...it's been done.  But I beg a mainstream viewer to point to the last time they saw/heard of someone drawing the cover of a major publication on a freakin' smartphone.  To me, the method makes the picture become something special.

UPCOMING STL ILLUSTRATORS MEETING

Just got this email about the upcoming Illustrator's Section meeting and figured I'd just post it exactly as I read it since Bob Shay has SUCH a way with words...

    Where does life take you, my illustrator friends? I hope it cuts a wide swath of adventure and new experiences for all of you everyday. Okay, I'm through being retrospective. As long as life is floating you down the stream of consciousness...sorry.....what I mean is...let life take you to the Illustrator's section meeting this Tuesday, February 7 at 7:00 p.m. That would be nice.

Our guest speaker this month is a fantastic painter, M.Shawn Cornell who if you ask will probably also tell you what an excellent designer he is as well.  But, that's another life and story. What we have here is a guy who left the corporate design world to follow a passion of expression that keeps getting better and hopefully more satisfying.

A fixture of local art shows and exhibits, Shawn Cornell is a plein air painter in the strictest terms: All his paintings are completed 100 percent outdoors.  There’s positively no indoor touch-up. His paintings are neither cutting edge nor deep in metaphorical meaning. They’re merely scenes and stories about brief moments he experiences and witnesses during his excursions. He’s a founding member of Missouri Plein Air Painters’ Association (MOPAPA), and serves as the group’s organizational manager. Every Sunday will find him out painting with his father, artist David Cornell. “We used to go fishing together, now we paint together,” says Shawn.

Shawn's paintings are the type of visual representation that worries less about detail than the emotional and pleasant tether it becomes to peace and calm. You study his work, sit back and say, life is good.  And, Shawn's work is just plein good. Sorry again!

Don't miss this one folks!

Bob Shay / Guild Illustrators Chair

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

There's Crap All Over the Loop!

Actually there's just Crap at a couple places on the Delmar Loop in St. Louis.  My first zine (mini-comic), Crap for the Crapper: "The WG Part One," is available at Subterranean Books and Star Clipper.  There might be a couple more locations that pick it up...but details haven't been worked out yet.

If you don't feel like traveling to one of those fine locations...check out CrapfortheCrapper.com to order a copy or download it to your smartphone!

 

November 2010 SLAG Meeting - The Amazing Sculptures of Wally Hauck

Last night's meeting of the St. Louis Artists' Guild Illustrators Section featured another amazing presentation by one of those hidden geniuses.  A person whose work is seen all over the country...but no one really knows he did it.

Wally Hauck of Zymo Studios, is a sculpture artist who does pretty much whatever when it comes to 3 dimensional models, displays, prop pieces, etc.  My favorites were his tap handles (see image above for a sample).  As an avid bar patron, I am an avid admirer of tap handles...but I never really thought about the fact that someone has to make the tap handle from scratch.  Well that, among many many others fascinating feats, is what Hauck does.  When it comes to the taps, he makes the prototype and then once they are approved, they are mass produced elsewhere.

Same goes for some of his props.  Sometimes he will produce a large quantity of the model himself, but other times he will make just one, and then 5 years down the road, be in a bar and see something that he made.

He works with materials such as epoxy, aluminum, steel, wood, and other random materials that he finds in shops/stores and then masterfully paints them with automotive lacquer to appear like different materials such as leather, bronze, marble, fruit, vegetable, liquid, and even animal.

I can't say much more...his work speaks for itself...check it out at ZymoStudio.com

MGHL - Robert Andrew Parker Exhibit

I first discovered Robert Andrew Parker through a picture book about Jackson Pollock that he illustrated called Action Jackson and have loved his work ever since.  So I was very excited when I was told about a great Wash U exhibit opening soon...

The Modern Graphic History Library of Washington University in St. Louis is rapidly completing the cataloging of Robert Andrew Parker's commercial work (he gave us all of his commercial work, reserving his fine art work for distribution to his family). We've scheduled a local Communication Design alumni reception for Thursday, October 28th at the MGHL to celebrate the collections' accessibility to the public.

  Bob has agreed to attend and make brief remarks. The originals he has given are astonishing.  This celebration of one of the Illustration Industry's most successful artists will be one you do not want to miss!  It is a once in a lifetime opportunity!

HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

September St. Louis Illustrators MeetingFeaturing Tim Lane

Last night's speaker was a bit different than we have had in the past.  More than anything, his attitude towards his craft set him apart from any other illustrator I've met.  Most illustrators simply look to get clients, crank out some illo's, get paid, and move on to the next project.  Well Tim Lane differs from that progression in that he despises art directors almost as much as he does "spot art"...or rather, work that has no personal connection.

Tim has done work for such publications as Rolling Stone Magazine, the New York Times Op-Ed, and the Wall Street Journal.  However, he pretty much quit illustration because he didn't like the "vendors" of art in the industry.  He prefers to do his own thing and not have to answer to art directors who want several re-works of an idea.  He even stated that he works against his own career...constantly re-inventing what he does.  Another reason he quit illustration is that he does not wish to take away work from up-and-coming illustrators.  He feels that he did his part and now it is time to let others go forward.

I don't really know what else to say about Tim Lane.  He was a hard character to read.  Part of his attitude towards illustration can be viewed as cocky...part can be construed as disconnected.  I couldn't decide if he was just putting on a front, or truly had the spirit of Jack Kerouac and Bob Dylan as he stated.  Does he really not remember much of the work he has done in the past...or was he just saying that?  Is he really "unprofessional" as he claims? Does he really just not care?  I don't know the answers to these questions.  All I know is that his work was/is great and his career has been admirable.

Tim Lane currently teaches drawing at Washington University and does underground comics on the side as well as some illustrations for Riverfront Times. 

You can find out all about them at his blog: www.jackienoname.wordpress.com

Also check out his website: www.jackienoname.com

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August 2010 SLAG Meeting - The Genius of Michael Swoboda

As a self-taught computer artist in Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, I always knew that I wasn't doing things totally the "right way"...and I even prided myself on that.  Whenever I see an ad in a magazine or a design element on a website that is original in style and very visually interesting, I try to recreate something similar in Photoshop....that's how I figure out new techniques to use in my own work.

Well, last night's Illustrators meeting at the St. Louis Artists' Guild was a complete eye opener.  Legendary St. Louis computer arts professor, Michael Swoboda -- freelance graphic artist and professor at Meramec Community College -- gave us a lightning-speed crash course in Photoshop basics.  I use the term "basics" very loosely...there was nothing actually "basic" about it at all.  He goes very fast and is truly impossible to follow completely.  But, I was able to jot down enough shorthand scribble to remind me of certain things to try out.

I learned more shortcuts and new techniques in his brief two hour presentation than I've taught myself in the past year.  Simple things such as the Filter>Distort>Displace technique for texturizing layers have now made my techniques obsolete.  I learned Photoshop capabilities such as "Content Aware Scaling" that I never even knew existed!  He showed us how to combine techniques in order to achieve an "antique" effect or other techniques to achieve a "hand spun silkscreen" effect.  All I can say is wow!

While I don't just make graphic art, I feel that furthering my knowledge in the realm can only help.  Swoboda teaches how to make things look realistic.  As Bob Shay stated, Swoboda could put text across a mountain and you would look at it like it was actually there.  That is not the type of thing I look to do in my own work.  BUT, from knowing how to do things like that, I would be able to apply those techniques and skills to the work that I do wish to create.

I definitely see myself taking a Swoboda class in my near future.  I hear they fill up very quick...within a couple hours each semester registration period.  Some people even take the same course multiple, multiple times (15 times in one case) simply because there is so much to learn.

I wish I had a link that I could put here so you could learn more about him and his course, but he is truly hard to track down on Google.  So if you are interested just check out his course at http://www.stlcc.edu/mc/