Welcome to Spring!

Dear ILL625 Spring '11 Students,
Please check out this video, which may help mentally prepare you for this class. Here's wishing everybody a great semester!
(BTW If you chance to look at older blog entries, you will find different and more involved terminology than we're using now, which may or may not be helpful to you.)

JH

Shadow Plotting and "The Law of Parallels"

For Assignment #2, I explain basic shadow plotting, and go over the Parallels concept that so much of Module 2 is about. Here, with the addition of a little jargon (sorry), I try to make clear when Parallels happen and when they don't, and then look at the practical application of the idea from the perspective of an artist as opposed to a viewer of photos.

None of this adds any new insight or concept on top of what's in the modules, but may help those who aren't quite getting on top of the ideas there.

JH

Sharing the "Wealth"

Here are some materials I did up for one of my directed study students today. She is someone who is already unusually aware of the little offsets and foreshortenings that make a face work in 3/4 view. The points made in these jpegs were offered as refinements upon that foundation.

Longtime friends and students may notice that one of these continues my almost-unhealthy preoccupation with eyebrows as indicators of dimensionality or, conversely, unsophisticated drawing.

(I am all about the sophistication, as you can tell by this grotesque kid in particular.)


JH
These are Copyright 2011 Academy of Art.

Thanks, Friday Class!

Dax mailed me the colorful and cheerful bag of good wishes you guys sent me. Thanks for the nice card and the clever puzzle, you guys. The latter will be a test of my awareness of the fine points of shape! My recovery continues well, no doubt thanks in part to all the kind thoughts and prayers sent my way. I'm expecting to teach at least one class in summer semester.
Thanks, you guys; you really made me feel cared for.
JH

My Surgery

My cancer surgery of last week went well. The surgeon, Mark Singer, is a very preeminent, highly skilled guy who also is a very good-humored and reassuring--not that common a combination, I'm told and I believe it.

It's a good thing this is basically happening between  semesters. I look scary now and my voice is shot. But the body, even the post-middle-age body, is an incredible thing.

I want to thank everybody who shook my hand or sent me an encouraging message through email or Facebook.  There's never any need to feel called upon to say something special in such a case; I can tell you every expression of good wishes is gratefully banked and adds to the strength I can bring to bear in the situation.

(But when a friend quoted a line from an old Simpsons episode to me, "Chicks dig scars," that was kind of extra bonus special. :)  )

JH

Thanks, you guys

Thanks to you guys (and other friends and family), I feel I'm floating into surgery tomorrow on a tide of goodwill.  That has got to help my chances (which I believe are pretty good)! Thanks so much for the words of encouragement, handshakes, prayers and positivity, you guys. I was happily stunned by the origami good-luck token you Tuesday folks made with Keiko. That was deeply touching--I thought I was gonna lose it for a second.

JH

For the Children's Book Illustrators among You.

Now the mere thought of someone telling me my drawings didn't capture the special magic of her stinky basset hound would make me murderous, so I guess I couldn't be a children's book artist for hire. But you may enjoy this story of the process of making one children's book.

My friend says this woman's site, which is mostly about recipes I guess, has a million dollars in sales a year and she is a bestselling cookbook author... Which may help explain how she got a contract for the book before she'd even written it.

JH