The Illustration Master Class. Mount Olympia descends from the heavens for a week long sleepover with the Gods of Art. James Gurney, Jeremy Jarvis, Rebecca Guay, Donato Giancola, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Scott Fischer, Don Dos Santos, Greg Manchess, Irene Gallo. Gods. If Zombie Rembrant showed up with an easel, no one would be surprised.
It began early for me, running into Jeremy Jarvis at the airport. Our connecting flight had gone insane. The "Flight departing at whatever" display could not make up it's mind. "Now boarding! No wait. Delayed three hours! Last call for boarding! Cancelled! On the runway!" People were turning back and forth like a school of fish chased by sharks.
So yeah, delayed enough that I'd missed my appointed Ultra-Econo-Trans-Quality-#1Shuttles ride. But Jeremy was gracious enough to let me ride in his... limo? That's right. The Gods travel in style. (I'm pretty sure Jim Gurney rode in on a golden chariot pulled by a team of pegasus. (Pegasuses. Pegasi? Horsebird gaggle.) Jeremy, being a humble fellow, was tragically embarrassed that the IMC had sent a limo for him, and tried to talk the driver into dropping us off in some shady, out of sight place. Also to mug us for good measure.
As students, our challenge was to create a compelling illustration from one of the following concepts: Beauty and the Beast, Jet Cycle Getaway, Joan of Arc, War Priest, or Frost Titan. We were supposed to arrive with sketches finished, ready for critique. I managed to scribble this before they got to me, like the kid who'd forgotten his homework.
-"So, it's a clown goblin orgy? Which one of the challenges does that fit into?"-
Even from this, they gave me some great direction. And no, it did not include "you're in the wrong building, remedial education is two buildings down. You can count to two, right? Don't forget your helmet."
We attended a safety lecture that made painting seem more dangerous than circumcising Godzilla, while he rampages through an on-fire minefield while radioactive acid meteors rain en masse. Despite this stern warning, we did have one safety related "incident." There were two studios, seemingly divided by partyability quotient. At some point, the safety officer said something to the effect of "We respect that you're all adults. But upstairs there's enough liquor to pickle the Kraken. We're pretty sure we saw some of you doing turpentine shots and linseed oil martinis, too. Maybe take it down a notch before someone cuts off their ear in a bout of inspiration?"
Over the week, we were treated to two lectures a day. (Moses only got the one!) Subjects ranged from composition, to shooting reference, to marketing your work, to renewing your love to paint. James Gurney gave two lectures, pretty well covering everything about creating a painting of something that does not exist. Greg Manchess delivered a stirring scientific lecture proving that "talent is total crap." It's study, practice, and work that counts. I could talk about all the fantastic lectures for days. They were that good.
-Working out the composition before detail. A rare case of me practicing what I preach.-
In the time between, we worked on our paintings, getting individual attention from each art god. Reveling in every moment. The Gods painted right along side us. We all stayed in the same dorm, ate at the same cafeteria, and before long it felt like a giant family. Except without the fighting about politics and questions about "where I'm going with my life," and "when I'm going to get a real job," and "why I cry Mountain Dew."
-A delightful bombardment of useful information, packed tighter than a uranium bomb, and twice as radioactive.-
Folks got to see first-hand my peculiar brand of building reference. I even introduced Jim Gurney to zBrush, and he sculpted an adorable little gnome face.
-"Now Steve, I know it's technically accurate, but it's a little distracting having all these flying stingrays with dangling naughty bits flapping in the wind."-
-Quick and dirty zBrush models, rendered in Maya.-
The IMC was incredible. I highly recommend it to anyone serious about art.
-This is apparently Donato kicking my foot away. Because he hates it so very, very much.-
I've still got lots of other misadventures to share, but rather than one epic, hundred page post that no one will read, I'll leave the rest for another time.
In other news, more art! Click on them! There's commentary, sketches, alternate versions, all that good stuff! Go now!
(If you want to be cool, hip, groovy, and with-it, you should join my mailing list by emailing me from the contact page. If you're already on the mailing list, you've probably already ascended to greater enlightenment. Perhaps you've even transformed into a being of pure internet.)
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