We have winners!

Winners from top row: Danielle Jette, Mark Illing, Ola Volo, Michael MacRae, Tylor MacMillan, Nomi Chi, Alison Bruce, Tina Le, Daniel Tatterton

It's been a little while since we updated! Things always get a little crazy around here when we get into the meat of the school semester. One big thing we've been working on is getting our students ready for the Society of Illustrators Student Show. This is the first time our school has entered the competition and we did very well, with nine of our students accepted!

This was a record year for entries, with over 8,000 coming in. (I do not envy those judges, how do you choose?) We couldn't be more proud of how well our students did, but it's not too surprising, considering the wealth of talent that they all have.

You can view all the winners, their full-size winning entries and artist info here. They are in good company.

Congrats to everyone!

Stop SOPA

This is going to pertain more to our US readers, but what this bill would do affects all internet users across the globe. We don't usually include topics of a political nature, but we feel that this is an issue that affects us all.

You may notice that there is a little black ribbon in the corner of our blog today. As people who generate creative content and intellectual property, we have pretty strong views on taking other people's work. However, the way the SOPA and PIPA bills are being put forth in the House of Representatives and Senate won't stop on-line piracy. What they will do is severely limit what has been an open exchange of ideas on the web. Online piracy will find a way to work around these bills, but your average user will not.

From Wikipedia (which is going dark for 24 hours in protest):

SOPA and PIPA are badly drafted legislation that won't be effective in their main goal (to stop copyright infringement), and will cause serious damage to the free and open Internet. They put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

We urge you to protect the free and open web. Call your representative and take tell them this bill means bad business.

This Moment's Inspiration: Well-Read

Happy 2012 everybody! We are hoping that this year is going to be a great one for everyone! It’s going to be an extremely well read one for Guin and I as we hauled quite a few good reads from friends and family. Books are a terrible addiction, as we are surrounded by bookcases in every room. Not to mention books on the floor, books on the table, books on every horizontal surface... But the one who dies with the most books wins! (More books, I’m guessing).

So among the books we got were: two graphic novels (Palookaville, and the Great Northern Brotherhood of Canadian Artists, both by Seth), two books on paper cutting and paper art (gee, I wonder who was the recipient of those books), a knitting book entitled: "Not Tonight Darling, I'm Knitting" (ditto with the wondering), two hockey books on Kerry Frasier and the Preston Rivulettes, an all-woman hockey team (I feel so Canadian), a retrospective on Saul Bass, and three other art books including the Art of Pixar and the Art of Up and the Disney Animation archive book.

Quite the haul. Except that somehow, we had to drag about 60 pounds of book with our carry-on baggage (since a mere 50 pound check-in limit is completely unfair for bibliophiles). But we couldn't leave a book behind.

So this got us thinking: What is the single art book that we cannot live without? We have many books that we treasure: First editions of adventure books illustrated by Howard Pyle, Rockwell Kent and NC Wyeth, first editions of drawing books including Andrew Loomis and the Famous Artists School, inscribed books by Scott Hampton, George Pratt, Paul Rand and Walt Reed, and on and on and on. But if there was a fire in the studio, Guin and I agree that the book we would salvage would be our Art of Disney catalogue book published by the The Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo.



Though this book is almost completely written in Japanese, this is the book that introduced us to Mary Blair and Eyvind Earle (art, after all, is universal). It was like hearing music for the first time. I mean, SURE we are surrounded by sounds, but after this book, we were surrounded by music. I remember when Stuart Ng showed me this book at San Diego ComiCon. The book hit me so hard in the eyes that I simply sighed and handed him my credit card.

Stuart is an evil man. I love him, but I'm pretty sure he takes great joy in opening artist's eyes (and artist's wallets!).

So if you see this book in a bargain bin or thrift pile (good luck with that), buy a couple of them. You won't be sorry.

What is the art book you can't live without?

This Moment's Inspiration: Keeping Cozy

The holidays can be a source of stress. But in the most positive way, this stress can lead to accomplishment. As a studio, we create, print and then send our holiday greetings. Not an easy task with finals, freelance and festivities to contend with. So with this annual task in front of us, finding the right idea is the hardest part (beyond angels, snowmen and reindeer).

We always have more ideas than time. But it's interesting how these cards come into reality. Sometimes, it's a process complete with roughs, refinements, dead ends, back and forths and finally a card. However this time, it was magic.

We always keep Moleskine notebooks lying around for ideas and inspirations. Even though we mostly use them to create and refine story ideas and notes, sometimes they are used to journal both words and pictures.

On a particularly cold and wet Vancouver day, Guin drew this self-portrait for fun:

She's been playing around with patterns and ink lately, and I thought it was perfect for this year's card. Sometimes the best inspiration is the stuff that's effortless... Pain does not have to equal quality!

We un-zen tangled the scarves to make a better foundation and Guin redrew the patterns. As soon as the linework came together, we did simple computer coloring to color both the shapes and lines/patterns. Then we added a zip tone to create some winter time energy. The result of this is simple:

To everyone we know and love, happy holidays and keep cozy in 2012!

Durwin + Guin

Collaboration

"Little Big Creatures" 2011, by Guin and Durwin

This past weekend, the Illustration Club at ECUAD (ILL’N Club) put on a skatedeck show. 125 boards later, an amazing show is hung at The Fall Gallery. To participate in this show, Guin and I pulled together a joint deck (there weren’t enough boards to go around so we repurposed one). Sufficed to say, drawing and painting monsters made for a great weekend.

And so, we got to thinking of the merits of collaboration. All of these students got together to put on one helluva show. Guin and I collaborate all the time in art and in teaching. So what's the common theme?

For me it's about vision. As long as the vision is strong, even if people are working at different ends of the creative spectrum, then it's unified. These 125 students come from different points of creative view. Painting and drawing were a big part of the show. But so were sprinkles (the stuff found on ice cream sundaes), carving and pyrography (burning images onto the wooden boards). For creative folks, this was exciting.

For Guin and I, we always get the question: how do you guys work together without killing each other? Unless I am a ghost typing on this computer, then we never resorted to murder to get our work out there. We understand that collaboration isn't about sharing an idea, it's about both of us making the most of an idea. The final vision is greater than our individual vision. Creativity does not have to be a lonely journey to create art. If an idea is a great idea, it can encompass hundreds of people giving their best. Art is, after all, about realizing ideas, making ideas manifest.

But for the record, Guin concepted, penciled, and painted flats. I painted the details and inked the board. We both ate the Mentos.

If you are in the Vancouver area, visit the show (it'll be up until January)! The Fall Gallery (and Tattoo), 644 Seymour Street, Vancouver, BC V6B 3K4


The show opening, Nov. 19th, 2011 (Photo by Seth Rutledge)


We were also able to "hang out" with Jaime Anderson's board. Hers is the one with the fox. (Photos by Roberta Chang)

Inspiration: Studio Songs

Art and music go hand in hand. A couple of weeks ago, Portishead visited Vancouver. Since they don’t step outside of Europe often, this was a must see event! To do the series “Bonds,” Portishead was playing on CD, vinyl and ipod nonstop during the creation of this comic (it was the aural equivalent of the art). Beth Gibbons even shows up in the dedication for Issue 2!

Together, we compiled a list of artists that always seem to be on repeat in our studio:

1. Portishead
2. Tom Petty
3. Neutral Milk Hotel
4. Sufjan Stevens
5. Cake
6. Be Good Tanyas
7. Wailing Jennys
8. Belle and Sebastian
9. Dire Straits
10. Tegan and Sara

There are many more that are not included here, but these seem to be the most played. Our tastes tend to overlap a lot (Portishead, NMH, Be Good Tanyas, Cake), and can be at odds with each other (Dire Straits, Belle and Sebastian) but it's mostly harmonious around the studio. (Pun intended.) And why Rush and Beck don't appear on this list is beyond us.

So we got thinking... What are the artists that stay on repeat on the iPod in your studio?

This Moment's Inspiration: Nature

We love nature. From sea to mountains, we try to take in as much outdoor fun as we can. In the past three months, we trudged through Boone NC, Nashville IN, Santa Monica CA, and Whistler BC. Inspiration fuels the long hours at the desk. And I think that the sunny days, beach spray and mountain snow somehow shows up in our worlds!

This is a little park in Indianapolis that we love to get back to whenever we can. It's a special place to both of us, and is an unexpected find right off a very busy road. It's the perfect place to skip some stones. I remember finishing my very last exam in college and driving directly here to celebrate a little by myself.

Speaking of Indiana, one of our favorite places ever is Yellow Wood Forest, which is near Nashville, IN. It's very close to Brown County State Park, but free and much less crowded. It's just as beautiful, we think. This time we did a trail that went straight up the side of a very steep hill that was pretty intense, especially for flatland such as Indiana. Still beautiful!
We were able to take a few days in California after SDCC this year and got to spend the day at Santa Monica Pier. Durwin is definitely a mountain guy but I love to spend the day listening to the crashing waves and laying in the sun. Unfortunately, my lobster-red legs did not love it so much. Still, I can't get over the novelty of the ocean.

Maybe the most epic trip we've had (at least for me!) was our trip to Whistler. It was one of the more spectacular things I have seen. It was very inspirational and certainly wonderful to get some snow and sun! It won't be our last trip, I can tell you that.

Do you find inspiration from nature? If you post your natural inspiration, leave a link in the comments. What inspires you?