Illustration Master Class 2011 - Day 3

DAY 3! Things are beginning to really get going. I am now painting on my piece and many of the other students are beginning to paint as well or will be doing so very shortly. Day 3 is guest speaker day which means we get to enjoy lectures by James Gurney, Peter De Seve and Mo Willems. All are amazing speakers and it was great to hear them talk about their work, thoughts on the industry and with the case of James Gurney, to talk about light, color and composition. There was time in the studio sprinkled throughout the day and there was a building excitement as people began to get to work. Many of the faculty began to work on their own pieces as well as bring in sample of their work to inspire and educate. Scott Fischer was set up in the digital studio...

Scott Fischer talked to us about some of his influences and processes when approaching his work. Basically, he told how best to get the ZIM ZAM into all our work! Scott's children book illustration where very impressive in person, they utilized ball point pen for the line work and were GORGEOUS!

Jeff Mack has some of his work up in one of the painting studios. These were really yummy to see in person.

Iain McCaig and Boris Vallejo discuss how best to take over the work with their amazing art skills... or that is at least what I imagined. I am sure it was something less sinister... or was it?!

This is the first floor painting studio all a flurry of activity.

Here is the second floor painting studio, also a flurry of activity.

Mo Willems had some great stories and taught us all how to draw Pigeon... even though we all did not not the noise at first when we drew the legs. The pains of being an embarrassed adult.

James Gurney took some time after his talk to sign books and talk to people. I got into line too late and had to wait to a day to have another chance to talk to him and get my books signed. Well worth the wait!

We all had name tags to put at our work stations and to hang with out work during critiques. I found it also useful in directing people to my website and blog... because that is what I do... when I am awake.

More faculty work on display in the painting studio. You can see some Greg Manchess and some Rebecca Guay and well as several others. All of these pieces looked amazing in person and no photograph can do them justice.

Greg Manchess hard at work. He put so much thought and attention into each brush stroke. He knows what he will do before each stroke hits the board.

When Greg makes a mark, it is the mark he intended and planned. Really amazing to see him work. I could tell you what he was working on... put then I would have to kill you and then the art police would come to silence me.

Today I will leave you with Drew Baker (he is a real Ninja Mountain ninja) working diligently on the computer doing all his prep work for his oil painting.

That is all for today, Day 4 coverage will be up on the blog tomorrow! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Illustration Master Class 2011 - Day 2

DAY 2! Everyone was still working on their sketch revisions or new sketches at the start of Day 2. One reason being that the traditional painters were not allowed to use any chemicals before the safety meeting scheduled before lunch. Apparently they are very safety and rules oriented in Massachusetts. I got a lot of my sketch revisions done the previous night but there was still lots to draw, not to mention scanning everything into the computer and piecing it all together into a new drawing. I was really going to be putting my little computer through it's paces as I planned to work much bigger then I usually do - needless to say now that it worked like a champ and got the job done! I had a little time to kill in the morning so I thought I would document my steps to the digital studio...

Walking with the cafeteria to my back you can't miss the studio building. There are two entrances in the front of the building, one to the left side and one to the right. We will be taking the right entrance.

Now we are inside. To our right are the doors that lead into the auditorium where all our lectures take place. We will be going to the end of the hall and taking the stairs to the second floor.

Up the stairs! There is noticeable wear on one side of the stairs where the majority of feet have touched the stone over the last hundred years. Once at the top of the stairs we will be making a 180 degree turn.

At the top of the stairs. At the end of the hall, that last door, that is the digital room. In the same location on the other side of the building is the one of the painting studio and below that on the first floor is the other painting studio.

The digital studio. There is a communal printer and scanner on the first table. It may appear small, but we all made it work and I think we all had a great time working together.

SAFETY MEETING! Apparently throwing a dead battery away in the trash is a $7200 fine. If you know that you are not suppose to do it and you do it anyway... the fine goes up... by a LOT. Needless to say the point was made to obey the rules so that there will be more IMCs in the future.

Iain McCaig gets ready for his second lecture. This is the most still I saw him the entire time at IMC.

Iain explains 'crossing the line' as it pertains to story boarding and film. Quick to use props or people... or people as props to explain his ideas, Iain puts on a good lecture. It was just fun to listen to him talk, he could have just been making noises and I think it would have been fun.

HEY HEY! People are getting down to work! You can see by my subtle indication where I was set up to work. Since my image was vertically oriented I turned my Wacom monitor on it's side and rotated my image 90 degrees to get the most out of my scene area. I am happy to say that is worked beautifully. The faculty was assigned to be in different studios as different time of day with the scehdule rotating through out the week. At any time though you could go grab someone that you really needed to talk to... or at least get them to stop by soon. You definitely needed to be assertive sometimes to get the attention of the faculty, there were a lot of students.

I will leave you with Aaron Miller working on some thumbnails and roughs. He worked his butt off and I can't wait to see his finished piece!

That is all for today, Day 3 coverage will be up on the blog tomorrow! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Illustration Master Class 2011 - Day 1

Let the IMC begin! Day 1 was a flurry of activity (actually, everyday at the IMC was a flurry of activity - I just didn't know it yet!). Most of the day involved small group sketch/drawing critiques with the instructors. When not in critique you had time to get your studio work space set up. It was encouraged to sit in on as many critiques as you could since listening to the instructors talk about other student's work was incredibly insightful because many times the areas of improvement could also pertain to your own work. Before all this though, the day began with a welcome address and introduction of the faculty...

The auditorium was packed with eager students as Rebecca Guay prepared to begin the 2011 Illustration Master Class.

This year's faculty were equally eager to begin the week.

There were three faculty groups critiquing and each group had three separate groups of students they would talk to through out the day. I picked the first group of the day and my instructors were Rebecca Guay, Greg Manchess, Julie Bell and Iain McCaig - a little intimidating, but I knew I would get a good critique. They got right up to my piece and we had to stop and break for lunch. I went to lunch anticipating having to start over completely with my drawing. I learned SO much watching all the other critiques leading up to my own - I was left with a head of changes that my drawing could very much use.

With a full stomach the faculty jump into critiquing my piece. Greg Manchess had us all laughing, I think he was going to use my piece as an example of not having a clear story illustrated in my drawing... and in doing so, he nailed the narrative I was going for on the head. The faculty had a lot of minor thing I could do to really push my drawing to the next level. Overall it was really well received and I was given some really helpful advice. Apparently all my worrying and fears up till now were a complete waist of time!

I checked out the other critique groups as the afternoon went on. It was a good opportunity to get my thoughts together as I prepared to move forward on my revisions and to get a feel for how the other instructors talk about work. Here we see Adam Rex, Dan Dos Santos, Boris Vallejo and Irene Gallo talking about a students piece in the first floor studio.

The extremely energetic and animated Iain McCaig put on a great welcome lecture in the evening. Actually, everything Iain did all week was great and very energetic and animated. He has a million stories, tremendous advice and amazing skill at both art and teaching.

As the evening turned to night I got to work on my drawing revisions. I had a bit to digest and needed a little time to get my thoughts together. So much new stimulus and ideas coming at me all at once. More on the drawing and revisions later!

That is all for today, Day 2 coverage will be up on the blog tomorrow! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Illustration Master Class 2011 - Day 0

The 2011 Illustration Master Class has come and gone, and in doing so it has left a profound mark upon me. I am not going to tell you that you must attend, I will tell you that attending the IMC was one of the most important things I have done for myself as an artist in a very long time. I am already making plans to attend again next year. It could not have come at a better time for me, I have been a little burned out recently. I am excited about illustration and being an artist again and that is a truly great feeling. It was also a great treat to spend a week with so many other artists that are all excited about art and illustration.

In my coverage of the week I will be leaving out a lot of information about the painting I did at the IMC. I will be doing a separate post at the end devoted exclusively to the painting. We have a lot of ground to cover, so lets get this show on the road with Day 0!

Green Man is ready for a new day of driving! Especially with his new buddy the GPS, which saved our skins a couple of time this trip.

That is a really big bridge, must take a picture.

I have not seen the New York skyline in person since 1997. It was neat to see it again... just was not expecting the GPS to take me as close as it did to it. I think I leveled up my driving skills this trip.

The big cities are past and Green Man is once again surrounded by his favorite color. Only an hour of driving left to Amherst!

YAYS! Made it to Amherst and the dorms! Time to unpack the car and start meeting new people!

I got a nice corner room with a great view. But I would not be spending a lot of time there.

Green Man is ready to relax for the evening and catch up with new and old friends. The week begins first thing in the morning.

People slowly arrive through out the evening and there is much fun to be made at the expense of Green Man.

That sums up the last day of travel and the quiet before the storm of awesome that is IMC. I also somehow cut my right index finger this night on my razor as I was unpacking. This did not bode well as a omen, but I now know it all turned out well in the end!

That is all for today, Day 1 coverage will be up on the blog tomorrow! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Green Man and Iain McCaig at IMC

Today is the last day of the Illustration Master Class 2011. This has been a truly amazing week. I would like to go ahead and send out a HUGE thanks to Rebecca Guay and all the faculty for all their time, advice, energy and excitement for art and illustration! You are all incredibly skilled artists and show by example a level of craft to strive for. More on all of this when I do the full wrap up starting next week, until then... Iain McCaig...

The great and powerful Iain McCaig spends some quality time with Green Man. Green Man got all weak in the knees at getting so close to such concentrated awesome.

That is all for today, I will start the daily wrap up starting next week once I am back home. Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Green Man and James Gurney at IMC

Partying like rock stars, James Gurney and Green Man were hanging out in the digital studio laying down some phat beats and critiques! (*NOTE* James Gurney was clear and away better at both.)

See you again on Friday! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com

Green Man gets to work at IMC

Hard at work at the Illustration Master Class, Green Man reviews revision notes and moves forward on his sketch updates.

More to come! Until then...

For more samples of my work or to contact me regarding my availability head over to my website: www.christopherburdett.com