Monthly Archives: April 2010

Neil Young

Posted on April 28, 2010 | 1 Comment

As the seasons slowly (very, very slowly) blend into another, I am also transitioning into a new job.  Unfortunately, no, not the dream one, and doubly unfortunately, I must spread my Illustration time even more thinly.  As things change and settle into new places, I must also find new ways to divide my time.

So here’s a throwback for you.

As I tell most people, I’m a Neil Young kind of girl.  I haven’t always been, but certain people in my Arizona fabric of friends helped instill my love for this folky singer, and Decade is still one of my favorite vinyls to throw on the record player.

This piece was an assignment in my Word+Illustration class at PNCA last year.  I vaguely remember the parameters, but I think it had to be based off a photo and include words about the subject.

I used this photo for reference:

Around town in the car, at home in the studio, late nights around the table with friends and some beers, on the long drive from Arizona to Portland, Neil Young has been the soundtrack to many occasions.

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Another random scrapper for you, found in another random place:

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Lastly, this past Sunday was a rad day, because Jake finally got his motorcycle!  The fruition of this long-time obsession only means this summer will be spent mainly on two wheels.

I love classic bikes.  For tons and tons of vintage motorcycle photos, visit my AZ friend Cindy’s blog – she has an endless supply!

-LW

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Posted in History, Motorbike

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Comics Fest + A Silly Sweater

Posted on April 26, 2010 | 1 Comment

This weekend saw my first ever attendance to a Comics Festival.  Why it took me so long to ever attend one, I don’t know.

The Stumptown Comics Fest was crowded, stimulating, and invigorating.  Art nerds united in a cramped hotel conference space which was absent of big-hitters like DC and Marvel.  This Comic Books Festival was more focused on the local (Portland’s Dark Horse Comics) and underground, while still featuring publishing houses such as Fantagraphics, Drawn & Quarterly, and the well-established artist Paul Pope.

Together, Jake and I amassed a nice little collection of new comics to bring home and read.  The spoils:

1) Rabid Rabbit #5: Alphabet City. www.rabbidrabbit.org.

A collection of comics by students of SVA (School of Visual Arts).

2) World War Robot Illustrated #1, by Ashley Wood. www.ashleywoodartist.com.

My painting teacher often mentioned Ashley Wood, and now I understand why – these oil paintings are phenomenal.

3) Sublife: Volume 1, by John Pham. www.substitutelife.com.

4) Sublife: Volume 2, by John Pham. www.substitutelife.com.

Both Sublifes were highly recommended by a big comics fan friend of mine, Box of Crap (long story), so I’m looking forward to reading these.

5) Big Questions #11: Sweetness and Light, by Anders Nilsen.  www.andersbrekhusnilsen.com.

I loved the Anders’ short comic featured in Best American Comics 2006, so I thought I would check out a full volume.

6) 100%, by Paul Pope. www.pulphope.blogspot.com.

I’ve read Heavy Liquid and love Paul’s drawing style, but 100% is new for me and I wanted to have him sign it.

A closer look at Big Questions #11.

7) Nerd Skull print, by Sarah Oleksyk.  www.saraholeksyk.com.

I am not familiar with this artist, but this caught my eye when I passed her booth.  Skulls + Nerds = awesome.

And of course, Paul’s swirly autograph on the inside of 100%.

I will definitely be attending this festival again next year.  It’s really great to see a bunch of people who love to draw come together and share their wares.  And if you are an aspiring comics artist, I recommend reserving a booth for yourself.

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I also stopped into local clothing store Red Light for a little bit of shopping, and stumbled across this ridiculous sweater:

Looking at this sweater immediately brought me back to memories of being a kid.  Everything about it – the neon/pastel colors, the creature character shooting hoops, even the font on the bottom – evoked a lot of familiar feelings.  I had to get it.  Plus, it was only $6.

The style is very distinctive of the late 80′s/early 90′s, a time in which I was living in Puerto Rico.  I went to the beach a lot and watched a LOT of Nickelodeon.  One of my favorite belongings was my New Kids on the Block sleeping bag, which featured many of the same colors here.  However, I can’t find anything related to this sweater – not the “Creach”, “Beach Network”, or “Zoo Crew”, the copyrighted company of this clothing.  If anyone else remembers this stuff, I’d love to know.

-LW

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Posted in Inspiration

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Eagle + Wolf: Party Bombs

Posted on April 22, 2010 | Leave a comment

We strike again!

My original charcoal and ink drawing:

Flipped at Jake’s suggestion.

Completed with Jake’s digital wizardry:

I am particularly fond of this collaboration.

For our next project, the roles will reverse.  I will be taking one of Jake’s original ink & watercolor drawings, which has been completed about halfway, and dump a bunch of charcoal all over it – very deliberately, of course!

We also just secured our domain name for the Eagle + Wolf collaboration site.  Construction to begin soon.

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A tax ID number, business expense receipts, registration forms, manila folders, Quickbooks for Mac, and a soon-to-be business bank account.  I am nearly official.

Although I don’t expect to do a lot of data-processing in Quickbooks, it will certainly help me keep all my records in order, and it will also make taxes infinitely easier next year.  I can also run more than one business from my laptop – always a nice option for Eagles & Wolves.

-LW

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Posted in Collaboration, Eagle + Wolf, Process

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Portrait: Morgan Grace

Posted on April 21, 2010 | Leave a comment

After spending weeks at the frame shop, the original framed art for the commissioned Morgan Grace portrait is ready for delivery.

Morgan is a Portland-based musician who I got to know a bit when she came for a sit-down for some sketches at my house in late February.

It was a long process.  The drawn portrait is large, at 24 x 36″, and by request, I took the finished piece to a printer to be scanned and copied, then to the frame shop to be professionally matted and framed.

In my studio, with references (including the flowers) at hand.

Base Coat.

Graphite.

Inked.

Midtones.

Shaded.

Final.

The final leg of the journey was definitely the longest.  I take all my work to be framed at I’ve Been Framed, on Foster & Powell.  They are the best – for supplies (canvas is incredibly cheap!!) and very moderate pricing for my framing needs.  Although the frame job took three weeks, I really don’t trust any one else to do it as well.  They handled all the framing for my solo show – even the nine foot one!! – very efficiently.

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Also, another Eagle + Wolf collaboration has been completed!  More to come tomorrow.

-LW

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Posted in Portrait, Process

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Inspiration: Edward Gorey

Posted on April 19, 2010 | 4 Comments

There should be absolutely zero surprise at my listing of Edward Gorey as one of my inspirations.  I’ve heard it a million times, and no, I ain’t scared.  I adore Edward Gorey.

But I really can’t pay tribute to Mr. Gorey without mentioning John Bellairs.

You see, I was a fan of Edward Gorey long before I really knew it.  When I was about ten years old, I ravenously read the supernatural thriller novels of author John Bellairs.  And truth be told, I was initially drawn to them because of their illustrated covers – some of his best novels were illustrated by Edward Gorey:

Guuuhhhh!!  Such a good combination!  Gorey’s illustrations perfectly matched the creepy thriller stories of John Bellairs.  I loved them.

It wasn’t until years later that I rediscovered Gorey and made the connection to my old reads.  I don’t know how I could’ve avoided it.  Like Stephen Gammell, his work was embedded deep in my subconscious.

You may read more about Gorey here – he was a very interesting character, of course.

His books, which are a delicious combination of maudlin, Victorian, dark, sinfully playful & ominous, have certainly had a large influence on my work.

Long before I entered art school, I often found myself studying the styles of my favorite artists, including Gorey.  There is no better way to learn the style of another artist than by copying their work.

Keep these drawings in your sketchbook, and avoid the blatant rip-offs in your own work.  Instead, use what you learn to enhance your own style.  These sketches have traveled their way through various school projects, but I have since parted ways with these drawings to embrace my heavy ink lines, gray washes, and saucer pan eyes – just the way I like them.

-LW

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Posted in Inspiration, Sketchbook

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Portrait in the Woods: Aaron

Posted on April 17, 2010 | 2 Comments

I am always happy and flattered when someone approaches me for commission work, so when my friend and co-worker Aaron asked me to draw a portrait of himself for his mother, I gladly obliged.

Here is what he asked for:

-11×14″

-Black & White

-Include some Magnolia flowers

He provided me with a few photos, and I went from there.

This is the photo I chose to work from.

Pencil

Since this is a commissioned portrait, I stayed fairly true to the original photo.  Not everyone wants to be drawn in some wacky Victorian-esque outfit with dead animals hanging all over them.  Outside of that, I had free reign over the rest of the picture.

Brush & Ink.

I had lightly shaded the face with pencil to help proportion his head, but I erase almost all of this now before applying charcoal.

Midtones with vine charcoal.

Final shading and detail.

I love making portraits!

Fancy seeing yourself riding a unicorn in a vast galaxy while wielding a sledgehammer?  Man, anything is possible in the land of Little Wolf.  Email your inquiries to maryannahoggatt@gmail.com.

-LW

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Posted in Portrait, Process

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Vintage: 4

Posted on April 16, 2010 | 2 Comments

Year: 2002

Age: 20

I just discovered a couple of old sketchbooks that I’d forgotten about, and they revealed some drawings that I think really indicate the development of my personal style.

At the time I still had never used a Micron pen.  I was very fond of a certain brand of Pentel pen – one that allowed me to create lines of different weight fairly easily.

Also, I can’t believe this was friggin’ 8 years ago.  Time flies.

I have always been fond of the Twenties.

I had many friends tell me, “this is sad!”.  I never thought so. (2003, actually)

I totally forgot about this one!!

More flashbacks to come later.  I seem to have old forgotten sketchbooks (all incomplete, mind you) everywhere.

-LW

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Posted in History, Sketchbook

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Character Sketches 5: Getting on in Years

Posted on April 14, 2010 | Leave a comment

I completed the portrait of Young Miss This’ counterpart: Old Miss This.  This version of Miss This is one of the main characters for the book, “The End of This & That”, written by Diane Young.

Reference Set-Up

Inked. (Hand Model provided by Micron Hero).

“Gouached”.

Shaded.

There is nothing more attractive than a woman who gracefully embraces old age.

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Posted in Character, Process, The End

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Identity

Posted on April 13, 2010 | 5 Comments

As I slowly trek my way towards the professional world, one can truly separate from the amateurs who doodle at their kitchen tables by doodling at their kitchen tables with an IDENTITY!!

Instead of closing jobs with high-fives and beers, I will now be handing you Quotes & Invoices with headers that I created magically, out of thin air.

For the first part of my brand identity, I began with a letterhead.  Since I so closely associate myself with Ink & Brush, I thought it was important to use my fondness of hand-lettering on my business correspondence.

I also knew that I wanted to integrate this candid photo that Jake took of me while on the coast this past weekend.  At this moment, it was totally silent, except for the sounds of the ocean waves and dry sand being blown over the hard surface of the beach.


I find typography totally overwhelming, and thus went with a very standard American Typewriter – which I am fond of – but this may change in the future.

Of course, these business documents are more fashion over function – I will be doing all my real record-keeping in business accounting software.

Next up – business cards!

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Awhile ago Jake & I were discussing the identity of Eagle + Wolf over a few drinks, and I had doodled these little images on some napkins and receipts.  Despite their scrappiness, they are actually very valid references and may be used in the future.

I love the idea of the “snout” business card.  Never underestimate the power of a scribble.

-LW

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Posted in Process

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Revamped

Posted on April 12, 2010 | 2 Comments

I’ve just returned from a lovely weekend with Jake at the coast.  Although I brought half my studio with me, I managed to work on only one drawing, while the rest of the time was spent doing nothing but relaxing.

I’ve been wanting to re-do the look of this blog with something more hand-drawn, so I drew this:

As you can see, I’ve already put it to work here.  I’m no Photoshop wiz like Jake, but I somehow manage.  I think.

Lots of work to come this week as I get back into the swing of things.

-LW

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Posted in Process

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