T-SHIRTS, SWEATSHIRTS, AND HOODIES, ON ARTSPROJEKT.COM

I recently (as in, last night at 3:00am) uploaded some of my illustrations onto the website Artsprojekt. For those of you who are unfamiliar, Artsprojekt is linked to Zazzle, an online social network that allows its users to create, transfer and print their (art)work on a variety of materials. This is super interesting to me being that I am constantly seeking new ways to retain "freshness" within my studio practice. Trying to figure out just what works and what doesn't on a T-shirt is still unknown to me; I'm using this experience with Artsprojekt as a testing ground. There are certain limitations at this point, one of which is that the image can only exist at a restricted size, and within a certain space. How do I, therefore, create an image that is approximatelty 8 x 10" and sits somewhere on the top half of a shirt?

So far, my approach has been to just create things that I would want to wear, or would like to see my friends and niece's and nephew's wearing. I'm trying to silence the demons in my head who are telling me that everything's been done before...
But has it really?
I guess I have to practice what I preach to my students; limitations and restrictions can be a good thing because it forces you to think of a less obvious solution to a problem.
The illustration that I decided to employ as one of my first t-shirts was a drawing that I did for James Ramirez at MK12 for the website Ventilate.ca It was an online poster exhibit which allowed users to download the images for free. The theme was Man vs. Nature, and I wanted to do a cheeky take on the subject matter. The original drawing is ink on watercolor paper, approximately 22x30" (i think). Looking at the drawing, it might appear that the process was tedious, but in fact it was very cathartic and meditative. The repetition of the bees and mice and birds became easier to draw as time went along.
So wish me luck in this new venture, and check out my store on Artsprojekt; here's the link:
http://www.zazzle.com/marcoschinproducts
Enjoy!

NEW WEBSITE...(again)

With a new year comes new possibilities and...a new website.
The recession is still looming and my pocket book lighter than ever, and as a result, I decided to invest, yet again, in the "Dummies" series of books to try to learn how to hand-code my site using CSS and HTML instead of hiring someone else to do it for me. Needless to say, as a semi-luddite, I could only get to a certain point in my hand-coding, after which I resorted to "clicking and dragging" my site together with Dreamweaver. Many thanks to my friend Elaine, who helped me answer as best as she could the questions that I had in regards to coding. Phewf! And now it's over to you... enjoy the old work as well as the new pieces. Happy New Year!

TWELVE DAYS

Here's a piece that I recently finished as a self-promo to friends and clients over the internet; The Twelve Days of Christmas. I love this time of the year! Happy Holidays! Let's hope for a prosperous 2010!

UNIVERSITY OF CENTRAL MISSOURI STUDIO TOUR

Last Friday, I hosted a studio visit for some of the Graphic Design students visiting from the University of Central Missouri. I always enjoy meeting new students who are interested in both illustration and design, which is why I was happy to share with them some of my experiences as a freelance illustrator. I graduated from art college about 10 years ago, but didn't begin working steadily as a freelance illustrator until about 8 years ago. It was a somewhat difficult transition for me from being a student to a professional because I really had no idea how to approach this. I was working full-time in a retail store and illustrating part-time, but desperately wanted for it to be the other way around. Oftentimes when asked, "What do you do?" I would respond by saying apologetically that, "I worked in retail, but drew pictures on the side." Sounds self deprecating, I know, but I think it had more to do with the fact that I understood that I had not quite reached a point in my professional life where I could comfortably admit to anyone that I was indeed an Illustrator. But, I believe this was the case with many of my friends who currently work as freelance artists, writers, designers, or illustrators - they never announced what it was that they did professionally, but rather the industry assigned them that role, and position. I have such clear memories about what it was like to get my illustration career off of the ground. I'm asked quite frequently by students, how it was that I was able to grow my career to a point where illustrating is what I did day-to-day. That's why hosting this tour was very interesting for me because it's what I would have wanted to experience as a student and young illustrator. I had a truly great time and hopefully they did as well. Many thanks to David Babcock, Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at UCMO, for arranging the tour.

FITC TORONTO

This is a follow up to the lecture that I did in Toronto a few months ago at FITC, which was a Flash conference that spanned a period of 3 days that included some of the brightest and creatives minds in motion and interface art and design. That's me in the bottom left corner and an image of an illustration that I did while studying Illustration at the Ontario College of Art and Design, in Toronto, Canada. Essentially I spoke about the "ins and outs" of my experience as an illustrator, where my work was, where it is now, and which direction that I hope to take it in the near future. There are some bits about my process as well as samples of my personal drawings near the end of the presentation. I must warn you that the audio cuts out slightly near the beginning, but remains pretty constant throughout the rest of the talk (which is 52 minutes).
Here is the link to the FITC website http://www.fitc.ca/media/ where you can view my lecture; scroll down the window on your right side where you will come across "Pretty Pictures, by Marcos Chin." Many thanks for checking it out. I hope you enjoy it.

IMAGINING MOZAMBIQUEOn August 27, 2009, I will be participating in a traveling fund-raising group show at Maxalot Gallery in Amsterdam for ASEM, a non-profit organization for the children of Mozambique.
This project was especially important to me because I was born in Mozambique - actually I am second generation being that my parents were born there as well. Coincidentally, or perhaps serendipitously, I was asked to participate in this exhibit. In 1975 Mozambique gained independence from Portugal after hundreds of years; however, 10 years prior to that began the revolution or civil war that carried on for decades after. As a result there was a mass exodus during that time, and luckily my family and I along with thousands of others fled the country fearing that our lives would be torn apart by the war.
Unfortunately for many of those who remained, that was just what happened. Mozambique's war last until the early 1990s and was coupled with economic instability, famine, drought and other natural disasters. Many of the children of Mozambique therefore, became victims of violence, poverty and were separated from their families and forced to live on the streets.
For this exhibit eleven artists from around the world were asked to create a piece that would help to enlighten the public to the every day life of the children of Mozambique, in hopes to inspire awareness and positive action in some capacity.
Below are some of the photos that I took of my process of creating this piece from sketch stage to final. It was my intention to keep this piece somewhat narrative and have it include some qualities that might be inherent in story book illustrations. The children here are hopeful, food and water are plentiful and they are spreading goodness to one other, celebrating and partaking in it.
Here is my initial sketch. I usually like to keep it rather loose, breaking the image down into shapes in order to find a composition that satisfies me, after which I proceed into tightening the drawing.
I've transferred my rough drawing onto watercolour paper. Typically I place the rough drawing underneath a fresh sheet of paper and use that as a template to create a final drawing by means of a light table, but in this case the sheet of paper that I am using is roughly about 30x40". Consequently, I had to do a graphite transfer of my rough drawing onto my watercolour paper instead.
Oftentimes to save time I will draw some components of my drawing on mylar or tracing paper. It's an approach that was informed by my time spent learning how to silk screen i.e. separating your image into layered components and then assembling them together to form an entire image. This method of working makes sense to me because it allows me to work on each layer without it affecting other layers. Moreover, since my main medium is digital using Adobe Illustrator, I have become accustomed to layering my images already. That's something that is very important to me as an illustrator, to learn various techniques and artforms outside of my own because there is a possibility that it might inform my craft or process in some way.
The inked image was then scanned into my computer and then finished off in Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Oftentimes, I like to print a version of my illustration in the midst of working in order to comb over the details of it. You can see in the photo above that I've done a test print. But if you scroll to the top of the page, you'll notice that my colour palette has changed considerably. I feel as though the image on the monitor creates a false sense of what my illustrations look like when they're printed although I'm actually not sure why that is? It might be because of the glare? Perhaps my eyes get tired of looking at the monitor and so I overlook mistakes? I really don't know.
Either way, I like to hold the actual illustration in my hand, even if it is a print and use that as a final test to see whether or not I am actually happy with the image that I've drawn.
The opening for "Imagining Mozambique" will premier at Maxalot Gallery, in Amsterdam on August 27, 2009. You can visit the website at maxalot.com to see the other artists who will be involved and read more about the exhibit.

HAPPENING 002

Last night, my friend (and illustrator extraordinaire) Fernanda Cohen and I participated in "Happening 002" at Collective Hardware in the Lower East Side. It was a fun night of drawing and art making on the spot accompanied by Mikkel Hess' (of Hess is More) drum sessions. Other artists in attendance were Alessandra Olanow, and Bill and Cassady Benson. The five of us sketched each other, the scenes around us, or whatever were in our heads and then posted our sketches up on the wall. At the end the night these sketches were either sold, or given away or exchanged for the works by other artists The remaining drawings that were left on the walls were then ritualistically torn up and thrown onto the floor marking the end of the night. Many thanks to Seth Cohen for making this happen(ing).Sketches by Bill (left), Alessandra Olanow (top) and Cassady Benson (on the right).Mikkel Hess of Hess is More performing his drum sketches periodically throughout the night.You can see a sketch of Mikkel that I did, the second drawing from the left of the red figure over a braided abstract background. Another drawing of mine above of my friend David Singer; below that are two by Fernanda Cohen.