Illustration Master Class 2012 - Day 2

Day 02 of IMC 2012 had arrived and things all began to fall apart. I woke up and just felt off, and by breakfast I realized I had used up all the energy I felt I had to expend that day... oh, and my little cough from the night before had grown and matured into a force of nature. I had to face facts that I was getting... had gotten sick and I needed to get ahead of it. Since I was 1000 miles from home this meant the emergency room and the closest one was 17 miles away in a neighboring town.

Here is were it further went wrong, I was given a clean bill of health at the ER and was given a prescription to what turned out to be over the counter cough syrup and sent on my way. By the time I got back to the dorms I was coughing up a horror show and only wanted to go to bed... which I did. Thankfully my wife and super awesome nurse came to my aid. I eventually had an antibiotic prescribed for me to at least cover my bases if it was bacterial and a list of things I needed to have on hand to better weather this storm.

Then things got weirder. So the pharmacy gave me the WRONG medication when I went to pick up my antibiotic. They gave me someone's thyroid medication... thankfully I was familiar with what I should have received and a disaster was averted. At this point I still was confident that this would blow over quickly and I just needed to get some rest and let the antibiotics do their thing. I ended up missing all the lectures of the day and when I dragged myself later in the evening to the studio to try to get some work done I managed about one and a half hours behind my computer. This would be the only time I worked on anything for the entire week. I did manage to get some pictures of what was going on before my energy was completely drained...

 The lovely Holyoke Hospital waiting room for the ER... just look at that aquarium... so exotic.

 The room at the ER was very green, everything seemed to be colored green or was bouncing green. Not the more comforting color for the mood I was in... but at least they told me I was completely healthy. 

 The mother ship had arrived to take me away...

I think those were there to plug Christmas lights into... or maybe your charger for you phone...

 This was how I sent the majority of my day... and was a glimpse of the week to come.

 

Finally out of bed and wandering the studios seeing what I had missed. Pete has gotten to work on his under painting.

 When Awesome Horses fight they make sure it looks awesome... or something...

Noah freaked everyone out by making his under painting very RED. *Spoiler Alert* it all turns out in the end.

 Everyone is hard at work in the upstairs painting studio.

We see Marc Scheff hard at work. We shared a table again this year... which meant he pretty much had an entire table to himself this year.

 A glimpse of the digital room. This will be the last time I am here until Friday when I dismantle my equipment and pack it in my car. I may have been here only one an a half hours, but I made sure I packed as much into that time as possible. More on this soon...

I had already given up on taking photos of the Hulk figure as the plague stripped all joy from my body. I still had hopes that this would pass quickly and that most of the week was still ahead of me. I just needed some rest, let the antibiotics work (*spoiler alert* I am pretty sure it was not bacterial), and that I would bounce back quickly. By the end of day 03... I knew I was wrong about everything...

That is all for today, Day 3 coverage will be up on the blog on Monday. 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 2012 - Day 1

It feels like a distant memory now, but Day 01 of IMC 2012 was exciting and we all had the week ahead of us... well, most of us did. Everybody was gearing up for their critiques and the first lectures of the class. It was a big exciting day for everyone. I know I was ready to have my critique behind me so I could start paining. Here are some images and take away moments from the day...

Breakfast with some Awesome Horses and a WIP.

HULK STILL MOODY AND INTROSPECTIVE FROM LONG DRIVE NORTH. HULK WANT TO ENJOY THE DAY AND TAKE THINGS SLOW.

IMC 2012 welcome address and instruction introduction.

Let the critiques begin! As in years past the instructors are broken up into 3 groups - one for each classroom - and you sign up for the group you would like.

This is the group I had wanted to sign up for, but loosing 5 hours to traffic the previous day limited my options when I arrived and checked in. This is a very similar mix to my group last year and I got a lot out of the group. Iain, Rebecca and Greg give outstanding crits.

This is the group of instructors that I signed up with. Solid critique and my piece cleared the instructors with only very minor tweaks.

 HULK EAT ALL THE FOOD! NONE FOR YOU!

A look around the Amherst campus. The large brink building to the left is where our studios are and the dinning hall is to my back. 

 My arch nemesis Noah Bradley gets to work on prepping his board.

Most critiques are now concluded and everyone is getting ready to work. Arron Miller, Cynthia Sheppard, Lauren Cannon are doing just that.

 Iain McCaig turns a shoe into a monster... RAWR!

Dan Dos Santos shows us all the different ways to shot photo reference of Iain and what works to get the results that we want and need.

 As the night went on, things got weird... and I, unfortunately, began to cough... a lot.

 
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 2012 - Day 0

It is finally that time, time to cover the ups and downs of my trip to the Illustration Master Class this year. As you should already be aware from my last couple posts I got very ill after arriving in Amherst and proceeded to end up on my back in the dorms for the remainder of IMC. I tried my best and hardest to not have things turn out that way but in the end I had to give up because I just did not have the strength to do otherwise. I did however make it to a couple things and I was able to get some pictures of the goings on of IMC 2012. I will do my best to make this all interesting and the days I was completely bed ridden will all get lumped together to make things move a little more smoothly.

As with last year we will kick things off with Day 0 - the Friday before IMC officially starts. This is the day everyone arrives, checks in, gets settled, and otherwise gets charged up for the week ahead. As will last year, I planned that part of that day was to be spent finishing my drive north from Florida. I was leaving just outside of Washington DC at around 8am and I should, even under the rockiest of conditions be arriving in Amherst around 3-4 pm. My day was to get a lot more rocky then I had ever imagined...

Beautiful Baltimore. Home to John Waters and Frank Zappa (more on this later).

From my travels up and down the east coast I know a lot about Delaware... like it costs $4 to drive into Delaware and a short time later it cost $4 to drive out of Delaware. 

 There's my problem, right THERE.

I'm BAT CAR. Little did I know that BAT CAR was heading to IMC too. Also, little did I know that apparently I was traveling at a speed MUCH slower then the speed limit. How else could BAT CAR fly past me and disappear on the horizon.

I saw a lot of this in New Jersey... the underside of things under construction while traffic was not moving.

Also say a lot of things in New Jersey that Godzilla would like to smash.

 Then this happened. You are looking at 4 hours of waiting. Mind you, there was some movement, but for the most part in 4 hours I moved maybe a mile or so. I learned eventually that a gasoline semi broke down on the George Washington bridge on Friday morning and even though it was all straighten out... traffic was ruined for the rest of the day. Never saw anything like it before. People were going nuts and traffic was in chaos. I made it through and it only cost me 4 hours and put me on the north side of New York at 5 o'clock rush hour traffic for the rest of my driving.

HULK HAVE NO PATIENTS FOR THIS. HULK NO WAIT, HULK SMASH! WAKE HULK UP WHEN WE GET THERE!

 In an attempt to get me through the chaos, my GPS thought I should end up in the Bronx... on the streets.. in the Bronx... yeah, this went well...

Needless to say when it was all said and done I arrived in Amherst a good 5 hours later then I thought I would arrive even under the worse of situations. I missed seeing the movie with everyone as I had planned, but I had a nice late dinner with Drew and Steve and that made up for a lot. Things were still golden and filled with anticipation and the first day of IMC was ahead of us! What's the worse that could happen???

See you back here tomorrow for a look at Day 1 of IMC 2012! Until then...

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

Back but not better...

I made it back home in one piece from IMC. I made really good time and for the most part the drive was straight forward. Unfortunately, I am still sick and the drive took a lot out of me. I had hoped I was doing better and maybe I had been but the drive really took its toll. I will be off the blog for a couple days longer... but when I return I will have my covered of IMC 2012... what of it that I saw and experienced. Until my return in a couple of days I will leave you with one of the many images I took on the drive back...

 South of the Border - much more interesting at night.

That is all for today, see you back here when I am hopefully feeling better. Until then...

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

My unexpected adventure at IMC

You might be wondering where my sneak peak posts from this year's IMC have been... or just why there were no posts on the blog on Monday and Wednesday... well there is a funny story behind all that. I got to have an unexpected and unintended adventure at IMC this year. The long and the short of it is that I got all the way to Amherst and was all ready to experience the wonders of IMC again and I got sick, REALLY sick. I have spent the last 6 days in bed in the dorms and now that we are at the end of the week and I have to make the two day drive back to Florida tomorrow, I am feeling well enough to get myself home. I did get to visit the nearby Emergency Room...

The Holyoke Hospital Emergency waiting room, just 17 short miles from Amherst. Isn't that a very nice aquarium...

 Look at all the neat things to stair at while waiting!

I was able to get some pictures before I was bed ridden and there were a couple times I thought I might have been well enough to attend a lecture... I will do my best to piece it all together and make a full report on the blog at some point next week. Expect for my normal posting schedule to remain off next week as well. I have a feeling there will need to be a bit of rest and recovery time still ahead of me next week. 

That is all for now, see you back here next week. Until then...

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

The HULK goes to the IMC - Travel Day 1

Yesterday was the first day of travel for me as I head to Massachusetts for this the Illustration Master Class... and it turns out just like last year I will not be making the drive alone. Turns out that a member of the Avengers will be joining me on my adventures with IMC... the HULK! I have for you some images from the day before I hit the road for the remainder of my drive...

My new driving buddy.

PUNY ARTIST! DRIVE FASTER, HULK WANT KRYSTALS FOR LUNCH! 

Most of the morning was rather turbulent.

PUNY WEATHER MAKES HULK MOODY AND INTROSPECTIVE!

 As the day moved on and I headed north the skies cleared.

 

I had to of course stop at the HAPPIEST PLACE ON .... the border of North and South Carolina.

BUY HULK SOUVENIR SALT AND PEPPER SHAKERS!

 HULK NOT UNDERSTAND ATTRACTION TO PLACE! GARISH COLORS HURT HULK'S SENSITIVE YET ANGRY EYES!

This guy still bugs me...

 HULK WISH YOU MAKE TIME IN DAY SO THAT HULK COULD STOP AND SMELL ROSES... AND RIDE TO TOP OF HAT TOWER!

 The Day moved on and I moved slowly further north.

After some wacky traffic in Virginia we got closer to our goal... oh look, the Nations Capital... I still don't think the GPS should be taking me this close to the White House...

HULK THINK YOU TAKE WRONG TURN!

 Day 1 of driving done... after a nights rest, next stop, IMC!

HULK NOT GET KRYSTALS FOR LUNCH, BUT HULK TIRED, HULK GOES TO BED!

That is all for another exciting week on the blog! As a reminder, I will be attending IMC starting tomorrow so I may not have a chance to post anything next week on the blog, but I will do my best to get an image or two from the week up if I can! Until then...

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

IMC - Once more with FEELING!

It is that time again, early tomorrow morning I will be getting in my car and driving to Amherst, Massachusetts for the Illustration Master Class. Almost on this exact day last year I expounded on my fears, worries, and expectations for IMC 2011. Feel free to take a moment and read all the details of my freak out. This year, not so much...

This year, I am actually not even fully packed yet and don't have all my stuff together that I am taking. I have of course shot reference, done roughs and thumbnails, and have a finished drawing I will be presenting for critique on Saturday. The important end of things is done and the rest will fall into place today. What is lacking, as I may have mentioned, is all the freaking out. I have a really bad habit of expecting the worse and over thinking things that I have not done before. Thankfully that has been dealt with in regards to IMC.

If IMC 2012 is even a little bit like 2011 it will be an amazing time. I will be seeing a lot of friends and familiar faces and there will be a lot of new people to meet and get to know. I had so many hopes, expectations, and fears last year that IMC had a lot to live up to, and it did so many times over. This year I am just looking forward to returning and letting IMC do its magic with the constant worries in my mind. IMC will be awesome, the instructors will be awesome, and my fellow students will be awesome. The only less then completely awesome aspect is the two days of driving up and two days of driving back, but I can make the best of it.

I will leave you with a single image today. This is the photo that got my project rolling for this year's assignment. For now I will leave it at that... ENJOY...

 Getting my ideas... together?

I will of course be completely covering and documenting my time at IMC, but like last year I will be posting after I return home. There will not be enough time in the day to do everything I need to do at IMC as well as completely cover the previous day on the blog. I will however try to once again sneak onto the blog next week and give little glimpses of what is going on!

That is all for today. I will be traveling on Friday, but will try to stop by the blog before I get on the road. Until then...

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