Author: Embry Whitmore

Coolest Work of Art I saw in 2016

If you’re unaware, 2016 is rapidly drawing to a close. It’s been a bananas year. BUT despite all of that, some cool art got made!

I recently went to the Chazen Museum of Art in Madison, WI where I live, and saw what I can hands down classify as the coolest and most awe-inspiring work of art I saw in 2016.

Rebirth, by Manabu Ikeda is jaw dropping. It’s a 10 feet by 13 feet work that is somehow monstrous in size, but unending delicate and complex. Created over a three year residency in Madison and with a dip pen and ink (yes, you read that right) there is nothing like seeing it in person. I feel genuinely lucky to have been able to do so.

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The article written about it here shows more close-up details of the piece, and includes a small section of the 26 minute documentary about the piece that was shown at the museum. I highly recommend watching it.

It is truly an opus, and Ikeda is a genius.

CC:Otherworlds, a Patreon Project

I’ve hinted at this  long enough… time to actually spill the beans! The cat is out of the bag elsewhere on the internet (I have posted about it on my tumblr account as well as on my instagram account) and it’s long past time I mention it here, too.

I’m partnering with a friend (and overall awesome human) who is an author, to participate in a year-long art project called CC:Otherworlds that is running from September 2016-August 2017. Every fortnight (2 weeks) we draw a prompt out of a hat. Cislyn goes off and writes an amazing short story, and I go off and draw or paint something to the prompt. Then, at the end of the fortnight, we come together to share what we made.

We’re doing this project on Patreon, so our supporters on that site receive goodies based on their support level. Some patrons receive email copies of what we created and some super rad supporters receive (and this is the part we’re most excited about) mail copies.

We think getting things in the mail is neat, and we really want to brighten people’s days with little imagination packages. 🙂

The work we do for the project is shared just with our supporters, so it’s even more special.

But here’s a quick peak at what you might see if you support us!

We seal all our letters and stories with wax..

And we sign all our letters and art!

We’ve been working on this project since April, and started officially in September, and it’s one we’re both super proud of.

We love what we’re making, and we love that we get to share it.

If you want more information, or want to join us in our journey, check it out!

https://www.patreon.com/CC_Otherworlds

 

Snapshots of my sketchbook…

So I’m working on something Pretty Darned Cool (capitals required) and it’s also something I’m really proud of… but I’m going to reserve a whole post for it. Curious? Stay tuned!

(Hint: it’s called CC:Otherworlds, and it’s a year long, joint art project I’m participating in!)

BUT that is a post for tomorrow. 🙂
Today I figured I would share some of the things I’ve been doing in my sketchbook recently. Many of these have been posted to my instagram (@seeclairedraw) which you should follow if you like off-the-cuff snapshots of my work!

These were done using a little strathmore notebook I keep in my backpack, a waterbrush pre-filled with water, and my watercolor set and a set of water soluble pencils. In one case, I also used a dip pen.

 

Inking Joy

Inking Joy

So this post is part INK JOY and part me spreading tantalizing information about a future project. 😉

To start. Ink. ❤ I used to hate inking traditionally, because it was the point in the painting/drawing where all your hard work could go the way of the dodo in one flat second. And it has. But then I realized it was also the point where a interesting sketch could transform into A Real Thing. And the biggest moment of relief was making an effort to never ink directly onto my sketch, but instead to use a lightbox. This meant if I screwed up, whatever, just throw on a new sheet of paper and start over again. Yes, I lost all my previous work, but realizing that if you did it once you can do it again is incredibly freeing.

Now I love inking. 🙂

I recently started experimenting with new inks, and sort of fell in love with a fancy-pants one.

(not in its original container) – Rapidograph black India ink! It’s fancy enough to be used in fountain pens, and makes a suuuuper delicious looking line.

See?

And now comes the second point of this post.

A friend and I VERY SOON are going to be unveiling a project that is going to be Super Cool. It involves art and stories both, and if you like seeing behind the scenes stuff like this, it is totally going to be your jam.

😉

So stay tuned (and thanks for tuning in!)

Preparing for… Wiscon40!

Every year I attend Wiscon– a local feminist science fiction and fantasy convention– but this year is extra special, as I am showing art in it! If you are a Madison local, make sure you stop by! It is at the Concourse Hotel over Memorial Day weekend. You must have a Wiscon attendee badge to view the art show.

Who is excited? ME.

I’m expanding my originals and making a few extra things just for this, including this little piece! At only 5×7″ it’s one of the smallest completed paintings I’ve done.

It also lets me say “I BLEED FOR ART” since I cut my finger (not badly!) putting it into a frame. ;P

WIP: Scales

So a friend and I are working on developing a SUPER SECRET but SUPER EXCITING project. Not to spoil anything, but it involves drawing. ;P It also involves drawing on a schedule, so this last week I’ve been experimenting with my sketch-to-illustration timeline and seeing how comfortable things feel at different paces. The result is that I get to draw mermaids. So you know. ;P That’s cool. I’m looking forward to painting this salty lady today and tomorrow.

Here’s a bit of a behind-the-scenes on my process!

Step One: The idea! Usually drawn on something silly (like lined yellow paper) or in this case, a far-too-small notebook right by the spine.

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Step Two: The “make it into actual art” step, aka, designing the layout. I don’t worry too much about details here; this is just figuring out shapes and overall design.

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Step Three: “Details, details, details.” 90% of the time I do this part of the drawing in Photoshop, just by drawing over a quick phone pic of the layout sketch. Photoshop makes it wayyy easier to scale, flip, mess with, and generally muck around without losing anything you’ve already worked on. I don’t worry about making it look very polished, though, because this step is just one more in a line, and won’t actually be seen at all in the final product.

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Step Four: INKING! This is my favorite step. I print out the Photoshop illo and trace it onto watercolor paper using my lightbox. I use a fountain pen with rapidograph waterproof ink. Cause I’m fancy.

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And that’s where it currently stands! Next up will be watercolors and a little gouache. 🙂

Etsy!

You heard right! I have an etsy now! It’s recently opened and I’m still fussing with a few things here and there, but the shop is open for business, and I’d love it if you took a peak!

What I’m selling (right now anyway) are these super adorable Misandry Cards (all in good fun, guys, I promise ;P)

My shop name is the same as my tumblr and instagram account: seeclairedraw

You can check it out HERE!

 

Field Trip to an Art Store + Smudge Sticks

Somehow in the course of my life I have lost more erasers than I thought possible. Once again I found myself sans my hard eraser, and my kneaded eraser had become seriously nasty over the vestiges of time (and pencil trimmings). How terrible. I had to go to the art store. Woe is me.

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In all seriousness, though, going to art stores is my happy place. It’s my shoe shopping, it’s my dress trying on. It’s freaking delicious.

So of course I bought on-sale brushes, a new notebook, fresh fancy ink to try, and oh yeah also erasers.

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I also bought a smudge stick.

Crazy as it is, I’ve never really used a smudge stick before. They’ve been around, and I sort of understand their point, but smudge sticks are not a tool I keep in my box. So I figured it was time to give it a solid try by doodling out some concept sketches for a short story I wrote and using the smudge stick very sparingly to give it that ‘field notes’ look I was going for.

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I’m still not sure how I feel about the thing. But more tools in my box is never a bad thing!

Capricon 36! Wherein I Showed Art

Well this is slightly after-the-fact, but I went to Capricon 36 (a lovely little convention down in Chicago) and took part in my first-ever art show!

Since I’m late in the game reporting these fun times, I won’t go into too much detail. But it was a great experience and full of great people I’m delighted at having met and learned from. I got to meet Karen Ann Hollingsworth (http://www.wrenditions.com/) who is just delightful, and my friend Sam ran the art show, and although she was running around being All Important, she also showed art herself (https://www.etsy.com/shop/SamHainPress).

In sum: lovely humans, lovely art, lovely time.

(From now on I’ll talk about art shows BEFORE they happen, not after. ;P)

Here’s what my stuff looked like!

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I also sold prints!

You may notice those items that look a bit like cards. A bit like cards that you can buy… 😉 More on that very (very!) soon. Stay tuned!