ICON 6 – day one

Last week I attended ICON 6, the illustration conference in Pasadena, CA at the Langham Hotel. I was a last minute sign up after much deliberation. The conference was not cheap but choosing to attend symbolically showed that I am a professional and I take my art seriously. I was in good company. The place was packed with professional seasoned illustrators and serious art students.

photo of me by Jeehyun Hoke

I had never been to a conference before so I had no idea what to expect. I was expecting to sell myself to every person I met like what happens at conventions. This was not the case. It was more like summer camp for illustrators complete with scary stories of evil art directors, bonding over inside jokes, and a general giddiness that comes from hangin’ with your tribe.

I promised to share my notes with everyone who wasn’t able to attend–and I took copious notes. There was such a plethora of information and I’ve got work to catch up on, so my notes are succinct. If you would like me to clarify or expand upon anything, please feel free to ask!

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Day One – Collage Workshop:

7/15/10 – Collage Workshop: With Maria Rendon, Katherine Streeter, Ellen Weinstein, and Brian Stauffer

The collage workshop began with the presenters sharing their influences and process. Afterwards, they posed the design project “Los Angeles: A city of angels, the city of angles.” I interpreted that from a model/actress point of view. Star struck folks in LA seek their time in the spotlight. I created a collage of angels with wings that were fashion accessories in photo frames bathed in the light bulb’s sunlight. It’s their heavenly moment! Keep in mind we only had a couple of hours for the project! It’s messy!

As I said, the presenters Maria Rendon, Katherine Streeter, Ellen Weinstein, and Brian Stauffer all shared their influences, process, and tips. Thank you Maria, Katherine, Ellen, and Brian for sharing your many years of valuable experience!

Influences:

Joseph Cornell – 40s/50s dimensional work, shadow boxes

Calder – wire figures, circus video on YouTube.

Hannah Hoch – German Dadaist, photo montage

John Heartfield - anti-nazi controversial art

Raymond Hains – removed layers by building and tearing away

Metropolitan Museum of Art – “Playing With Pictures: Art of Victorian Collage”

Raoul Hausmann – Berlin Dadaist

Max Ernst – Dadaist and Surrealist

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Process and Tips for Collage:

Katherine Streeter

• work more conceptual than literal
• with first time clients: do sketches first, explain the stages, send many concepts
• check out “Cannonball Lady”, French illustration magazine
• “American Illustration” magazine

Maria Rendon

• process send 3-5 sketches, line drawings, then fabricate
• uses scroll saw for wood

Ellen Weinstein

• photograph friends for reference poses
• paint textures to scan in
• likes to twist everyday objects in unexpected ways
• important to do personal work, for shows

Brian Stauffer

• collects textures and shapes to use for something else, scan in fabric, wood, etc
• used old magazine photograph of a can for: bomb, condom, shark
• uses the dodge and burn tool in Photoshop to fill in detail
• made smoke in Photoshop with a solid color twisted and warped

More tips:

• used old family photos, no worries about copyright
• if hired by a publication see if you can use their photo archives
• be consistent in your work because folks hiring want to know what they are getting
• don’t ever give your rights away

I hope that these notes are somewhat useful! Like I said, if you need further clarification, please don’t hesitate to ask! I’ll be posting more about ICON 6 soon.

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By the way, I commented on the Keynote Presentation on Friday, July 16th on the future of illustration on the PRINT magazine blog by Michael Dooley. Check it out and contribute your thoughts:

http://imprint.printmag.com/animation/icon-reax-is-animation-the-future-of-illustration/