Jorge Manuel Dengo 1918-2012

Jorge Manuel Dengo 1918-2012

Today, Costa Rica mourns the loss of an invaluable man. Universally acclaimed by Costa Ricans as a visionary, Jorge Manuel Dengo was the incorruptible voice of reason, both extinct traits within the rulers of our country.

My dad tells me that as a child, I sometimes drew for catharsis, as a method to deal with the loss of numerous pets. As I am far away from home, my guttural instinct was to draw this, quickly, as a way to cope with this loss. My sadness stems greatly from the fact that I did not get to know my grand uncle better, but I am joyful that the response from "Ticos" has been so universally heartfelt. It is a reminder, and an inspiration, that there are those who have sincerely sought what is best for the country, and not just what is best for themselves.

"We are left without one of the greatest, of which there are none left." 
"One of the best that Costa Rica has ever seen." 
"An example to follow."
"A visionary."
"We are left with his legacy."

Rest in peace, Jorge Manuel.

Cigarette Butts

This piece is part of Just Cause at Electric Keychain. This time we chose to illustrate subjects that we feel strongly about, or that we feel need to be addressed.

There is an abundance of comments I could make about this topic, and the feelings that inspired me to draw this. But at the same time, I drew this to show you how I feel, not to tell you. So I won't.

Instead, I will recount how this piece came to be.

The Tyger by William Blake

"Tyger! Tyger! burning bright

In the forests of the night,

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?" 

-William Blake, 1794

Electric Keychain's last project of the year is a Calendar inspired by books. Every artist had a month to illustrate and mine was April, which is National Poetry month. I illustrated my favourite poem, William Blake's "The Tyger." Blake was also an artist, so this illustration is also a tribute to one of my favourite pieces of his, "The Ancient of Days."

I'm not an immortal hand or eye but I dared frame his fearful symmetry...in the clouds!

I love calendars and every year I have a couple decorating my wall. I'm picky with the April image since it's my birth month. Usually I look for something calm and spring-themed (rain is fine too as long as it's happy puddles rain and not dreary sadness clouds rain.) So a fierce "Tyger" in a tempestuous environment is really out of the norm for me in terms of what I'd like to see in an April image. Also figured this was a piece in which I absolutely could not lean towards my usual cutesy look.

I first read "The Tyger" in Tracy Chevalier's book "Burning Bright." She writes a lot of historical fiction aimed at the arts, which is right up my alley. I highly recommend her "Girl With a Pearl Earring."

I realized after I was done that I have been using a lot of blue-orange complementary colour schemes lately but it's been mostly coincidental. I just used colours I found worked and they happened to be blue and orange!

Today, I am featuring some lovely EK people since I was especially excited about this project. Everybody got to nerd around about books and literature and I loved seeing what everybody found close to heart from what they've read. Here's a few pieces I especially liked for particular reasons: 

Jennifer Ely's "Winter Is Coming"

©Jennifer Ely 2011

You are always in for a treat when it comes to Jenn's portraits. This summer I started reading George R. R. Martin's "Song of Ice & Fire" series and was therefore really excited when I saw her initial sketch. She has HOW MANY characters in this piece? Eight! From the wolf silhouette, to the likenesses, to the sword, to the tree, she absolutely nailed this and I can't imagine how any Game of Thrones fan would NOT love this.

Find more of Jennifer's awesome portraits at jenniferely.com

Carly Strickland's Sherlock Holmes

©Carly Strickland 2011

This is definitely my favourite piece that Carly has ever made. There was so much care put into  picking all the details and arranging them in the image. All of these items serve to portray a more accurate portrait of Holmes than just his face would do, and that is why this piece works so well.

Find more of Carly's vectors at carlystricklandart.com

Francis Anderson's Cat's Cradle, Ice-ix

©Francis Anderson 2011

Francis's piece is so effective because you make a double take. "Oh it's a gentle little snowflake, look how gingerly the hazmat guy is handling... the ice-ix that could obliterate life on Earth?!" Also, nice touch with the reflection on the helmet.

Definitely check out Francis's animations at callmefrancis.com/

Last but not least, a honorable mention for Elizabeth Allen!

©Elizabeth Allen 2011

She agreed to make a piece on extremely short notice and I was surprised to find out it was a 3D illustration. I don't often come across people who make 3D illus but I'm always intrigued by them. You're using an entirely different skill set and way of thinking, while still having to be conscious of how it will turn out as a 2D image and composition. She certainly captured the serene nature of Wordsworth's poem.

Find more of Elizabeth at lizexists.carbonmade.com/

Finally, here is a glimpse into my process work:

Sketchbook Project 2012 - Part 1

I am participating in the Sketchbook Project 2012 by Art House Co-op. It will be part of the permanent collection at The Brooklyn Art Library AND it will also be digitized, so you will be able to flip through it online in full (it's also on my website.) This post is an advanced sneak peak. This is Part I. Click here for Part II. 

My theme is "Monochromatic."

I present to you, pages 08-23:

08-09

10-11

12-13

14-15

16-17

18-19

20-21

22-23

I've found every artist has an explanation of their sketchbooking habits (or lack thereof) and here is my (gigantic) explanation:

The Book Lady - Savannah GA

The latest Electric Keychain project is aimed towards small/local businesses. We could pick absolutely anything and I picked one of my favourite places in Savannah, The Book Lady.

 

I was very impressed the first time I visited The Book Lady. Before this, I'd only ever visited one used book store in Costa Rica, and while that was impressive, this was even more so. The stacks of books practically tower over you. It REALLY did look like your stereotypical, fairy tale bookstore. Brown tones, soft lights, brick walls, chimney, cozy sofas, so many books packed in spaces so tight that you may not be able to pass through, a soft note of old paper lingering in the air and an undisturbed silence.

But the most impressive part is that staircase at the back of the store. I've often wondered, when was the last time it was a functioning staircase (rather than a stepped bookcase?) How long have those books been there? Does any one person know exactly which books are on each step? Who lives on the top floor? Did the books populate it up until the top story tenants had no choice but to relinquish the staircase to the books?

For this piece, I'll share some of my technique/process with you.

Offbeat Alphabet Q Ñ I

The latest project for Electric Keychain was alphabet letters. You can find them all here (link was broken but is now fixed.)

Letters were given out randomly, though I personally took Ñ since I wanted to do Spanish words for my letters. They were supposed to be humorous or offbeat in some way (not your standard A for Apple) and to me, Spanish sounds more phonetically humorous than English.

Q is for Quiquiriquí (key-key-ree-KEY) = Cockadoodledoo

Ñ is for Ñau (gnyow) = meow

I is for Imán (ee-MAhn) = magnet. I wanted onomatopoeias for all of my words but there wasn't much I could figure with I except for "EY, MAN!"

This project became a venue for colour experimentation. I've worked with limited palettes before but I don't think I've ever done it quite this way and I really enjoyed the results. Definitely want to do more of this from now on.

I started out knowing EXACTLY the colours I wanted for the cat... and nothing else. And then I said hey, let's just use the same colours on all the letters. It may not seem like it but the rooster was the hardest of them all to figure out in terms of colour and I'm happy his worked so well in the end.

These are the original sketches:

Carly Strickland's "Sunshine's Night Out" Book Review

I usually keep posts in this blog for my personal artwork but today I am making an exception, not only because I am a book lover but for admiration towards a fellow artist and friend.

Carly Strickland is a fellow SCAD alumna and one of the nicest people I ever met there. She is also a cherished member of The Electric Keychain Collective. Today, I am happy to share with you her new children’s book “Sunshine’s Night Out” published by Matter Deep Publishing.  

©Carly Strickland

Carly describes choosing her images “based on the most theatrical way to express a concept” which is deftly delivered in the illustrations in Sunshine’s Night Out. Honestly, I couldn’t have described them better.

Sunshine the hamster does not say a single word in this book, but the endearing theatricality of her expressions conveys her thoughts and feelings loud and clear, in a way that even the youngest children can comprehend. With whimsical compositions of display text, she travels through the pages in sequential images reminiscent of comic panels. This succession of images effectively makes the reader feel as if they were watching a sweet little animated movie. 

The story presents a clear beginning, middle and end. Or a conflict, the curve in Sunshine's short but eventful nighttime journey, and a satisfying resolution. Also isn't that fun? Sunshine's having a nighttime journey. SUNSHINE. NIGHTTIME. It's great. I love it.

It is not with the unconditional praise of a friend, but with admiration as a fellow artist that I give Carly and Kyle Strickland’s “Sunshine’s Night Out” a glowing review. Carly, I am very proud of you and I eagerly hope to read more of your books in the future.


Visit Matter Deep Publishing to get your own “Sunshine’s Night Out!”

©Carly Strickland
Gotta love a book that does this with its covers.