Summer Summary

The summer began with the continuation of my internship for the Ringling Design Center, working everyday up until the Illustration Academy 2007. It's a life-changing gift to go to the Academy. I was particularly grateful to be in attendance for a second year, because it was more relaxed and comfortable, as opposed to the first year when I was painfully shy and intimidated.

The best assignment of the academy for me was Mark English's, in which we were limited to illustrating a conversation in a cafe scene, using only two values per object with a 20% difference between the values.



Utilizing such restrictions, I was able to complete another piece like my "breakthrough" piece from last summer.



During Doug Chayka and Jenny Kostecki's alumni week, I used pen and watercolor to illustrate Chapter Three of Pinnochio as a two page spread.



I'm in love with how the lamp turned out.



For the conceptual portrait assignment from Anita Kunz and Jon Foster, I painted a movie producer remaking quality Asian films into "American spectacles."



I scanned it in two parts because a) it's too big for the scanner and b) the still-life objects are better than the figure anyway.



For my reference, I made the props and set it up as I needed it, using Gumkid as a model. The reference was half of the fun.



After the Academy, I flew to Minnesota where I visited family and friends, attended my sister's wedding as a bridesmaid, browsed the dusty goods of the local antiques store, explored inside a huge No. 2523 steam engine locomotive built in 1916, and toured a wealthy farmer's house built in 1893. The wedding was the most exciting part of my trip, as evidenced with my sister in the photobooth.