John Ruthven Talk at the Cincinnati Museum Center

Hear Mr. John Ruthven speak on Thursday, July 18^th, at 7 p.m. in Reakirt Auditorium at Cincinnati Museum Center. 

Mr. Ruthven will talk about his life and work and some of his most famous work. Please RSVP for this special event.

The lecture is free and open to the public. Feel free to share and enjoy!

RSVP to the lecture >

Another Great Illustration Podcast: Big Illustration Party Time

I have been recently listening to the podcast Big Illustration Party Time.

It is not guest oriented like many others, but rather a discussion about the two hosts careers as they unfold and their lives change (one is recently a father and the other is expecting in the fall). It is interesting to see their changing perspective on life and illustration.

The hosts are Kevin Cross and Joshua Kemble.

If you think Your Dreams, My Nightmares is a little New York City-centric, this is a good one.

http://illustrationparty.tumblr.com/

Does anyone else have any favorites?

COSCBWI Gallery Show in Columbus looking for Submissions

If you are a member of SCBWI, consider submitting to the member art show in Columbus. The Deadline is August 5th.

Art Pact: A Professional Practice Proposal for Illustrators

A while ago, illustrator Randy Gallegos wrote a comprehensive guide educating clients about rights, what it takes on the artist's end to make good art, and what good art costs.

http://www.hireanillustrator.com/how-to-commission-an-illustrator.pdf

As art school gets more expensive and jobs pay less, a group of illustrators are putting together a professional practice website that looks very promising to educate both potential clients and illustrators.




From their Indiegogo page:

INCEPTION

"Hi, my name is Jim Pavelec. I have been a freelance illustrator in the fantasy genre for 15 years.
Throughout my career I have watched contracts get progressively worse for artists, and our pay stagnate or even decrease. We all saw it happen, and we all complained to each other about it, but nobody did anything about it.

I decided to give a lecture at the 2012 Illuxcon symposium regarding the state of freelance illustration for fantasy and sci-fi artists. I wanted the panel to be a forum for ideas on how we could affect positive change in the industry.

I gathered fellow artists Todd Lockwood, Randy Gallegos, Aaron Miller, and Mike Sass to join me on the panel, and to brainstorm beforehand on some ideas. What we came up with was the idea of a website. 

You can hear about the inception of the website and the entire Illuxcon panel on the Drawn Today podcast: http://www.drawntoday.com/podcasts/DT_podcast_ep041.mp3

or via this YouTube version."

As self-publishing becomes the norm, this site proposal is a good education for ANY illustrator.

Anyway, if you think this is a good idea after you read through their proposal, they could use your support.

 http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/pact-professional-artist-client-toolkit?c=home

Plus, I would be interested to hear how the local illustration community feels. Thoughts?

Final Friday on Main Street: Show by Ghost Empire Collective

When: Final Friday, June 28th, 8pm-1am
Cost: FREE
Website: www.ghostempirecollective.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/ghostempirecollective

Cincinnati, OH - Live art collaborations by nationally collected artists, affordable art prints and music from DJ Gerald will converge for a free show on Final Friday, June 28 at the Drinkery.

Cincinnati-based Ghost Empire Collective, a group of local artists who have brought live art to the masses since February 2012, is calling their 8th show on June 28th “The Show That Cannot Be Named.”

The artists for this show include nationally collected visual artists, illustrators, graphic designers, and tattoo artists, including:

• Professional children’s book illustrator Christina Wald
• Poster artist & album illustrator John Sebastian
• GEC founder and City Beat’s 2nd Best Local Artist Anthony “Tank” Mansfield
• International art hustler and tattoo apprentice Jaimie “As You Wish…” Filer
• Visual artist Snotty RLE
• Graphic designer Justin K. Hite
• Designer Kevin O’Neil

The majority of the artist’ pieces will be 11”x17”, printed on heavyweight paper, bagged, boarded, and ready to frame. Prints start as low as $10.

Finally, Ghost Empire’s Live Art is something you must see on Final Friday. It features artists teaming up together to produce one of-a-kind artworks on stage in front of your eyes. You can watch everything from the first pencil mark to the final brush stroke and everything in between. DJ Gerald will be laying down the accompanying soundtrack all night long from his deep collection of music. Combine all of this with the Drinkery’s fully stocked bar and you have a can’t-miss event, a memorable night out, and high quality artwork that you can afford.

The Price of Art School: Is It Worth it and Why is it So Much?

This article by Noah Bradley has been on fire on Twitter and Facebook today:

https://medium.com/i-m-h-o/138c5efd45e9

It basically lays out an alternative to art school.

Excerpt: "By their own estimation, the cost of a four year education at RISD is $245,816. As way of comparison, the cost of a diploma from Harvard Law School is a mere $236,100."

I am curious what people think.

I cannot believe how prices for art school have skyrocketed and really dislike the idea that these institutions and (and college for that matter) should be tossed out. Especially when my generation benefited from a fairly low cost education...

Can the price be brought down to something manageable? How did it get this way?

Fashion Illustration Workshop by Claire Thompson

Claire Thompson (Hello Claire) is a fashion illustrator working in Brooklyn and around the world. She is from Cincinnati (born here, graduated from Sycamore High School and from DAAP) and will be here this summer living in Mainstrasse Village. You can see her work at helloclaire.com (she's done illustrations for Alexander McQueen, Prada, TheKnot, Brides Magazine...)

She's offering a one-day workshop. A lot of illustrators take from her when she is in town. She is limiting it to 4 people but can take up to 6 if there's enough interest.

Here are the details on EventBrite: http://helloclaire.eventbrite.com/

http://helloclaire.eventbrite.com/#

Illustrator News: Chris Sickels Book Launch Party in Northdside

Chris Sickels of Red Nose Studio will be doing a book signing party at Happen Inc. June 25th at 6:30.

4201 Hamilton Ave.
(at Chase Ave.)
Cincinnati, OH 45223

Cincinnati Animation Network Meetup

Darcy Vorhees Van Horn of Flaming Medusa Studios has started an animation group called Cincinnati Animation Group. Here is the blog: http://cincinnatianimation.blogspot.com/

They have a meetup next Friday:

Cincinnati Animation Network Meetup

Hey everyone come join us at Fries Cafe and Bar on Friday June 21st at 6:30pm to meet your fellow animation peeps! It's very informal, just for fun so everyone can meet and see what's up.

You should get an email invite too, if you don't and want one, email me (Darcy) at info@flamingmedusa.com and I'll get you set up on the email list

Fries Cafe
3247 Jefferson Ave
Cincinnati, OH ‎

Wacom Intuos 4 For Sale

David Michael Beck is looking to sell his Wacom pad. This is a 2 year old Wacom Intous 4 tablet with software in original packaging.  This unit has at best less than 50 hours of usage on it. He paid $380 brand new... He is looking to sell it for $300.

Illustrator News: Darcy Vorhees profiled on Soapbox Media

Darcy Vorhees (Flaming Medusa Studios) was just interviewed for Soapbox Media.

http://www.soapboxmedia.com/founders/060413DarcyVorhees.aspx

She also gave our blog a shout out!

Illustrator News: Marlene Steele Awards and Classes

  

Painting by Marlene Steele

"The Busker" merited the WACC Silver Medal Award in the 120th Annual Juried Women's Art Club Exhibition at the Barn.

"It is a painting that captures the subject's personality and

beautifully renders specific information with sacrificing

spontaneity or style." 

Juror Christopher Leeper in his remarks 

Classes at Art Academy of Cincinnati  

Watercolor Mariemont!   8 Saturday Mornings starting 6/15   The Barn Mariemont

Color Pencil Class 8 Saturday Mornings starting 6/15  The Barn Mariemont

Drawing Dynamics      June/July  Jackson street location Downtown

Register online at www.artacademy.edu

Partial listing at this time.  have a great day!  Marlene