SUCCESS!

Krista Swiader dot Com!

Actually, it's not quite the true website...this is just a temporary host until I actually get my real site up and running. This site host belongs to my professor, and he is having all of us post our websites on his host to get a feel for uploading to the web and designing layouts. I am so excited to get mine up and running now. I just need to figure out how to do it through the host I have.

Victory!

Outside Guidance

How to Illustrate a Children's Book

My four years of college, consolidated into a Wiki-How. Golly Moses.

Gloryoski!

My portfolio is finally completely printed! And it couldn't have come at a better time, as everyone in the school is going absolutely insane with trying to get their work completed for finals, and lots of people end up being really grumpy (or grumpier, as some people have demonstrated).

Queen of Diamonds

[ copyright Krista Swiader 2008 ]

I came up with the idea a month ago of doing a series of elaborate playing card illustrations using a limited color palette of red and black. Obviously it's not much by way of an original idea (as my roommate ever so sweetly put it to me earlier this evening), but I want it to be more of a practice in value and using a limited color palette. I also just really want to have fun doing some elaborate ink drawings with simple color fills.

This one has undergone so many transformations, and she still continues to do so. She started out being Glinda the Good, then went towards Ice Queen/Witch, then a sort of Maleficent-like queen. Now she's the Queen of Diamonds. I've yet to figure out what will go inside that border. It will come to me in time, though.

I can't believe it's nearly six o'clock in the morning. I need sleep. Sleep is good.

- Krista

Oily Mermaids

[ copyright Krista Swiader 2008 ]


[ copyright Krista Swiader 2008 ]

The two oil paintings that I am working on right now for Tony's class. I'm having a lot of fun these, despite having not painted in oils in about two years. The top one is about 8.5" x 11", while the bottom is 1' x 2', both on primed masonite panels. I like painting on those SO much better than canvas/illustration board. Canvas is just so...finicky, and illustration board warps horribly no matter what medium I choose to paint in. Sadly I won't have these finished in time for Senior Juries, but I will be able to add them to my portfolio/website once they're completed.



And this is my sloppy studio. It's going to be fun trying to clean up that hullabaloo when I move out. Yeesh.

Buffooneries

Today I went to a lecture by Paul Kaplan titled, "Venetian Art, Censorship and Geopolitics: Veronese's Feast in the House of Levi." He discussed the case of Paolo Veronese (a.k.a. Paolo Caliari of Verona) and his painting of Christ feasting in Levi, and the argument as to it's intentions during the age of the Venetian Inquisition (IE, whether it was meant to be a Last Supper painting, and if it was, why there were 'required elements' missing from it).

Professor Kaplan included a translated transcript from the case regarding Veronese and his painting with his lecture. It was interesting to read a 16th century explanation for art work. I find that students are always just given reasons as to why the painters painted the way they did. This makes it seem more realistic, as if we can connect with Veronese on an artist-to-artist level. I also enjoy the fact that the word "buffooneries" was in a translated text. Those wacky Venetians.

I would love to see this painting in person. The actual piece is 17 feet by nearly 39 feet. I think my favorite part of the whole thing was the fact that the Venetian Inquisitors told Veronese that he had three months to change the painting to their requirements, and the only thing he really did was add inscriptions on two pillars...one of which was "Luke Chapter 5," in which it cites:

And after these things, he went forth and saw a publican named Levi, sitting at the receipt of custom: and he said to him: Follow me. And leaving all things, he rose up and followed him. And Levi made him a great feast in his own house: And there was a great company of publicans and of others that were at table with them. But the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying to his disciples: Why do you eat and drink with publicans and sinners? And Jesus answering, said to them: They that are whole need not the physician: but they that are sick. I came not to call the just, but sinners to penance.

It was a very fascinating lecture overall. It's been a while since I've had a good theological lecture. You certainly get two interesting perspectives when you jump from a Catholic high school to an art college. Makes me want to dig out my old World Religions text book and refresh my mind.

Patriots

Happy Patriot's Day everybody! No drawings/paintings scanned in as of right now, but I will post a few pages of my PDF portfolio once it's been completed. I finally got the go-ahead for completing it, so I'll be working on that tonight, among a few other things. But first, some great things to share!

First is The Art Renewal Center, a totally awesome link that Julian gave to me so that I could find some Mucha reference. It's a great spot to find some high resolution photos of realistic artwork. The work in it is so beautiful and makes for some great reference.

Second is a link to the Attleboro Art Museum's featured exhibit on Viktor Schreckengost. If you're in the Attleboro, MA area, I highly suggest seeing it. I took a look around there after I had my job interview, and the work there is amazing. It not only features his work, it also features the work of his students and the people he has inspired, including car designers from General Motors and toy makers from Hasbro. Excellent stuff there.

Last find is nothing too special, just some inspirational words found, of all places, on two fortune cookie fortunes that I strangely got on the same day:

Do not give up, the beginning is always the hardest.
The answer will not come to you. You need to look for it.

It's the sort of thing that gets mass produced into fortune cookie fortunes and scrambles in crossword puzzles, but it's still important to remember!

- Krista

Lesson for the Day

Listen to me, kiddies. Always check your settings before you send something to the printer. Especially when each print costs you more money than you have in your pocket. Otherwise, you end up wasting your money and get stuck with wallet-sized prints when you needed 11 x 14.

At least my work shrinks down nicely.

Website

This would be so wonderful to own. For those who can't access the link, it's the Adobe CS3 Master Collection. Not only does it come with the Photoshop/InDesign/Illustrator combination plate, it comes with Fireworks, Dreamweaver, and a bevy of other cool programs I want to play with so badly. $2500 to play with for the rest of my life...even though I've heard that CS3 is not very good on the new Macs...or even some of the old ones. D'oh.

Speaking of websites, I finally purchased Krista Swiader dot com! It brings me joy. The only thing I have to do now is figure out what host I should use. I have a host through GoDaddy.com, because they were the ones I bought my domain name through, and it gives a free host with your purchase through a redemption point...but it also says you can use alternate hosts. If anyone knows of any good hosts, you should please let me know.

I crave sweets. And I wouldn't mind starting a new watercolor painting right now, as I'm being reminded of it by this rainy weather. The only problem is, I don't know what I'd like to paint! Time to go to IF for inspiration!

- Krista

Fun Facts for Today

• The state of Rhode Island has tax incentives for artists. According to a link I found, if you live AND work in RI, any sale of work within the nine designated art districts is exempt from state sales tax. AND, any income received is exempt from state personal income tax. And guess whose hometown is one of those nine designated art districts? ShaZAM!
• Making a resume is strangely fun to me.
• I am going to be taking part in a "Senior Design and Illustration Showcase for Employers" on Thursday, May 8th from 4:30pm to 7pm. I will be presenting my work, as well as giving out copies of my resume and business cards for any employers seeking illustrators. It's very exciting, seeing as this is the first year the illustration department has been included in this showcase.
• I never realized just how many old mills in Pawtucket/Providence have been converted to studio spaces. They're all wonderful places, too. A lot of them are textile mills that are positioned against the Blackstone River, and still have their water wheels attached. Beautiful places if you ever get a chance to see some of them.
• While Pawtucket is also a good place for old mills and art opportunities, it sorely lacks in an updated website. All of the special illustration links on there were dead ends.
• I put a posting on The Providence Journal's Artist Listing, just for the sake of doing so. I never realized how many artists there are in Rhode Island. Jon Foster is based in Providence!

It's always nice to take a moment and research little things about the areas you live in. You never know what you might find.

Work in Progress - Wonder Woman

I've been in the mood to draw women lately, particularly Wonder Woman, so here she is. She's not quite finished, as I really want to get these to fully finished pencils. After that I'd either like to ink it and then do some color work to it, or maybe paint her in oils on the watercolor block. I haven't quite decided. I'm thinking a snazzy decorative background for her, too. Something graphic. Looking at Adam Hughes puts me in a real graphic, linear mood.

More updates to come soon, I hope!

Study

[ copyright Krista Swiader 2008 ]

I just did this fairly quickly (drawing and ink included) in maybe an hour? I'm kinda proud of it. My inking needs a little more work, and I also need to invest in new pen nibs, but overall I'm pretty satisfied with this study. I was trying to emulate inks done by Adam Hughes, because I love his work. I'd love to get to that caliber of perfection, but in paint, not digital.

Works in Progress - Octopus and Seahorse

[ copyright Krista Swiader 2008 ]


[ copyright Krista Swiader 2008 ]

Two new paintings I've been working on this weekend, as well as the oil painting of the Regal Blue Tang mermaid that I'm painting for Tony's class. I feel really at ease with these paintings, even though I'm still nervous about how they'll be accepted during Portfolio. I had to tweak the Seahorse in Photoshop a little, because she's coming out a little darker than I'd like her to. I think it's because she's on cold press paper (which, for some strange reason, I had mistaken it for hot press). The hot press really makes the colors pop, which is what I am going for with my stuff.

I also like the experimenting I've been doing with texture. I not only used the technique Mark showed me where you rub your thumb along the edge of the brush and spatter paint, I also remembered the salt technique. If you put salt in wet watercolor, it absorbs the pigment and leaves behind some interesting shapes. I'm still getting used to that one and trying to play with layering those...as well as clean up the constant mess of salt I leave behind in the studio.

Hopefully these paintings will be well received. I think I'll take a break from these two and the oil painting and start some new ones on the rest of that hot press paper Mark let me take. Or I might just go back and tweak some old work. Either one will be productive.

Have a great week everyone!

- Krista

Grid

[ copyright 2007/2008 Krista Swiader ]

I felt like I needed to post some art on here. This was a grid project that I did for my Natural History Drawing class in the Fall 2007 semester. Originally, there was no watercolor on top of the flowers/plants, there was just the ink work. I decided to stop neglecting the poor thing and went back in to it and gave it some extra life. And as a result, I find I like it much better than I had previously. The true reason I liked this project the most is because of all of the details you can find in plants. There are a few areas I'd like to touch up here and there, but hopefully this will join the ranks of my portfolio pieces.

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Speaking of making work, I find that I have actually been loosening up a bit more and experimenting. For my mermaid paintings, I am trying a variety of line techniques that Mark showed me, as well as using salt on the watercolor (note: don't use sugar unless you plan to keep the texture there...it just makes everything sticky...excellent textures, but also sticky). I am also attempting my first independent oil painting in two years, which should prove interesting.

I also really, REALLY want to work on my website. Matt finally showed us how to start piecing things together in Adobe Fireworks (which, side note, is an AWESOME program) as well as Adobe Dreamweaver. I was really worried we would learn web design in iWeb. Thankfully we haven't, and are actually using programs that are good and fairly easy to learn. I can't wait for the website to get launched. I need to start looking for host servers...anyone know of any good ones? Nothing too expensive.

So, hopefully by the next time I post, I will have lots of new pieces to show off on here. I'm also experimenting with hot press paper instead of cold press for my watercolors. I may or may not be addicted...we shall soon see.

Keep it groovy!

- Krista

Oil Turmoil

Woe be to the illustrator who can't use a paintbrush.

[ That'd be me right now. ]

As a student, I'm still plagued with those nibbles of doubt and frustration. I don't think any artist should be ashamed to admit that. Sometimes it feels almost like a taboo with other classmates and illustrators I've met. Everyone feels discouraged now and again, it's only natural, right?

What's that you say? It's always come naturally to you? Always? Are you sure? You've never struggled, ever?

As hard as that is to believe of people, there are those that won't admit to being defeated. At least not to my face, anyways. So, as a result, when I feel these moments of doubt, frustration, and annoyance...I'm left feeling like a heel for it.

I'm the rope in a tug of war. Pulled one way, pulled another, so tight that I feel I could rip, and then dropped limply into the mud.

I think that I need to get out of college. Before, I wanted nothing more than to stay and learn as much as I could before I was dragged away into the real world. Now I want to get out there, spend some time working at my own pace without being concerned of grades or professors or anyone else's opinions. I want to make art for myself. I want to build my portfolio and visit places and get my resume up to snuff.

I wonder if any of these guys ever had doubts like mine when they were my age.

[ If you have the chance, check that link out. 75 artists you should know, or re-remind yourself of if you ever forget about them. Just looking at Quentin Blake's work makes me want to read more Roald Dahl books. ]

Right now, I'm in the midst of two "Series" projects. Cats and mermaids. Mermaids and cats. Not one and the same, two separate series (although the idea of a catfish DID cross my mind).



How cool of a fish is that? Imagine the other crazy colored fish there are out there in the ocean/seas? Tons. Oh, and a cute thing to educate kids with about fish? Scubadorable.com. They're fun to look at, and it helps give the names (and I think even the scientific names) of all of the fish.

If I wasn't so worried about killing them, I'd love to have an aquarium of tropical fish.

Well, Portfolio class is in almost an hour, so here's hoping that the class goes well today. Just take a deep breath, be confident and sure of yourself, and take it head on. Bite the bullet.

This session of "Student Confidence Lessons" was brought to you by the Society of Illustrators, Dunkin Donuts, and the letter Q.