Memphis College of Art -- Illustration Club: MCA

Showing posts with label MCA. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 22, 2014

Home Stretch!

Calls to Artists

(click me for more information!)

The Bikesploitation Festival is seeking bicycle-themed artwork in any medium for the Community Art Show, part of the Bikesploitation Festival, which will take place on Saturday, March 17 at the Metal Museum.

Entry deadline: May 1.

Entry fee: FREE!

(click me for more information!)

The 2015 Niche Awards Competition gives awards to both students and professional artists over the age of 21 who reside in the United States or Canada. They will accept entries for consideration of awards through August 18, 2014.

Entry deadline: August 18, 2014.

Entry fee: The cost to enter is $40 for professionals, $20 for professionals who will be exhibiting at American Made Show in 2015, and $18 for students.

------------------------------------------

MCA Illustration students will participate in Dali Community Day with the Brooks Museum of Art on Saturday, April 26. Students will set up demonstrations and explain the process of their work to other event attendees.

------------------------------------------

Lucas Graciano

Tuesday, April 15, 2014

More Chances to Win Stuff!

An exhibition for students to get involved in!

------------------------------------------

Dark Souls 2 - Art Contest

Dark Souls 2 is brutal and awesome. What's equally awesome is the game's armor and weapon design. With that being said, we wanted to have you guys submit your own weapon design or full set of armor. Of course the prizes are pretty epic if you end up designing our favorite set of armor or weapon.

(click for more information)

•The Downtown Memphis Commission is launching an ambitious art program called "South Main Mosaic" that will commission up to 10 pieces of public art for temporary display throughout the South Main neighborhood. Interested artists located within 250 miles of Memphis are encouraged to submit proposals for the design, fabrication and installation of artwork for temporary display from October 3, 2014through October 2015. Eligible mediums include, but are not limited to, sculpture, artistic lighting, murals, vacant storefront enhancements, video and new media work.

------------------------------------------

Illustrators and Friends of Illustrators!

Come 'meet' 3-dimensional illustrator

CHRIS SICKELS, RED NOSE STUDIO

(www.rednosestudio.com)

We will be skyping with Chris from Indiana on Friday.

Everyone welcome.

DA Media, 3:45-5:00, this Friday, April 18th

email Michele at with any questions you might have.

------------------------------------------

Rising Juniors, Seniors and Graduate students: check your e-mail to register for your table at the fair. Deadline is Thursday, April 17th to reserve . Once you register, you will receive more information about the format of the event.

Career Fair Attendees: Tues., April 22nd from 12:15-1 PM in DA Media I will conduct a Career Fair Prep/ Job search meeting so you can learn what you need to bring, how to dress, and how to make the most of this opportunity!

------------------------------------------

For those of you making cards currently for Illustration 4, I am trying to start uploading a collective of all the art included in the Legends of Norrath online TCG. For art and more information, check here and here.

And lastly... it wouldn't be right to update without some inspiration!

Rahul Philip

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

MEETING UPDATE!

4/8 Illustration Club meeting update:

-Spectrum Fantastic Art Live will be in Kansas City, Missouri next month (May 9-11). A 3-day ticket will cost $40, single day tickets with student ID is only $10 (without student ID a single day ticket is $20). Hotel information is listed on the website. If you are for sure planning on going, please sign-up on the SFAL sign-up sheet in the illustration room next to Michele's office!!!

Also, if you want illustration club to help cover the cost of your ticket, you MUST come to at least 2 meetings (there are meetings every Tuesday till the semester ends), and come to 2 illustration club events (Lock-ins or help with bake sales). THE DEADLINE TO SIGN-UP FOR SFAL IS ON APRIL 18!!!

-Lock-in this Saturday!!! The theme for the lock-in is 80s themed!!! Come with some work and drink some free coffee!!! Starts at 9pm in the illustration room and ends when the last person leaves!!!

-BAKE SALE!! Due to another club planning a bake sale next Wed, the bake sale will be rescheduled to a different day next week. Keep checking this page for updates for the new date.

-Zine update! We will most likely have the zine printed off by April 26!!!

-Voting for next school year's committee has begun!! Please vote for who you want for illustration club's new President, VP, Secretary, Treasurer, and Media Chair. Ballots are in the illustration room, and you can only vote once!! Voting will end by April 29.

-Etsy Store!! Another way to get funding for Spectrum is by selling prints, art, crafts, pillows, etc. is on the etsy store. For each item that is sold, half the money goes to the club and the other half goes to the artist. If you are interested in selling your stuff, please email your PDFs or TIFFs to Erica Bottger at erica.bottger@mca.edu.

-Zoodles will be tomorrow (Wednesday) at 11:45!! Email Michele if you are planning on attending!! We will be drawing in the monkey and gorilla area of the zoo!

Lastly, there will be meetings every Tuesday between now and the last Tuesday of the semester. There are only 3 more meetings left, so please come (especially if you are planning on going to Spectrum)!

BFA, Call to Artists (April 8, 2014) and more!

MCA Announces Spring BFA Exhibition

MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Memphis College of Art announces the Spring 2014 BFA Exhibition, which will take place in the Main Gallery of Rust Hall, 1930 Poplar Ave., Overton Park. The exhibition will be presented in two parts. Part I will be on view from April 3–21 with a reception on Friday, April 11, 6–8 p.m. Part II will be on view from April 25–May 10 with a reception on Friday, May 2, 6–8 p.m. The exhibition features works from 49 BFA candidates and includes a variety of media from painting to sculpture to digital media.

Artists for Part I include:

Colton Berretta, Chris Blackall, Kelli Black, Dana Finimore, Crystal Foss, Shenequa Fowler, Kaitlyn Garrett, Anthony George, Kayla Golden, Suzie Hansen, Stephanie Hemker, Sam Herwehe, Braden Hixson, Carl Jefferson, Herbert Joyce, Jr., Timothy Joyner, Ashlyn Larmeu, Alexandra Lee, Taylor Lindhorst, Robert McElhaney, Emily Miller and Britni Morgan.

Artists included in Part II are:

Christa Barnett, Erica Bottger, Emily Chaplain, Signe Johnson, Machel Kazungu, Rhianna Lee, Kassandra Line, Olivia Miles, Laura Miller, Jason Moning, Jeff Muncy, Willie Nelson, Sinead O’Brien, Aubrey Palermo, Katherine Reed, April Rodriguez, Philip Rule, Dylan Rutherford, Brittany Santos, Natalie Schuh, Terri Scott, Maysa Sem, Christopher Simmons, Zoe Taiani, Mary Tuttle, Courtney Whitlow and Taylor Wilson.

Rust Hall’s Main Gallery is open Monday–Friday, 8:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m. – 4 p.m.; and Sunday noon – 4 p.m. Exhibitions and receptions are free and open to the public.

------------------------------------------

Calls to Artists

Applied Arts

•Open to all students in creative advertising, graphic design, interactive media, photography and illustration, the AppliedArts Student Awards is the largest and most respected show of its kind in North America. Submissions are judged by respected senior communications professionals, so you'll know how your work stands up according to the highest standards in the industry. Submissions will be accepted through May 16.

Anonymous asked:

Hi! I see that you are a professor at MCA? I've been accepted into their Illustration program this fall. They've given me a generous scholarship and seem to be very interested in me. But I've looked online at the reviews and they just have me scared. What was your experience like teaching there? Do you personally think it's a good place to study? I've been accepted to SVA's illustration program as well. I would value your input on which school I should consider attending! Thanks much!

Hello!

This might have been better suited as an e-mail, but I’ll answer it here. If you have further questions, please email me at john (at) johnleedraws.com.

I no longer teach at MCA, as I am about to pursue my Masters at, er, SVA. I actually received a very similar question earlier, which you can check out here. I’ll try and be as unbiased as possible; that means the good, the bad, the ugly.

A BFA is a very risky proposition for the money invested; you have to understand that going in. If you are OK with the risks (and depending on your background, the risks might be greater or less than others) then that’s how I would determine on where to go for undergrad. It becomes a value judgement on what you’re getting for your buck, I suppose.

SVA is, without a doubt, the superior school in terms of resources available to the individual student. It’s perennially regarded as one of the top art schools in the country, certainly for illustration. But is it the best value, especially if you have a hefty scholarship to MCA? I’m not so sure.

MCA is a much smaller school, and in a lot of ways is primarily aimed at the Mid-South. Just pulling numbers off the site; while the current student body comes from 25 states and 5 foreign countries, 60% come from the Mid-South. So if you grew up in the South, and it’d be easier for you to stay around here, that’s definitely a plus.

The reviews that you’ve read (from where?) are probably old and don’t reflect the entire situation from the past 3 years. The Illustration program, when I was teaching and when I left, was in the process of rebuilding. In 2012, there was a lot of shuffling around, and some tough decisions made in the wake of a hard financial shakeup. I would like to stress that this is not unique to MCA.

When a school has to dramatically restructure, I’m afraid one of the hardest hit areas is usually the academic quality, and those repercussions affect students the most. The other instructors and I tried to offset that as much as possible when I was teaching (to varying degrees of success on my part.)

Here’s the good news: recently, MCA read the writing on the wall, and decided to give a huge amount of institutional support towards illustration (and comics!) specifically. Once regarded as a red-headed step-child to drawing and painting, it’s now the largest department on campus, occupies a prominent amount of the school, and is headed by a new professor,Michele Noiset. Michele is absolutely awesome in all regards, and I couldn’t be happier that she took the reins.

Whatever the illustration department was, it is now better and getting better ever day. I’m hesitant to make any predictions, but I’d say that in a few years, if given the chance, it will be comparable to other regional schools in the area like KCAI and VCU.

It is, however, very small. You can’t go into it thinking that, say, Sam Weber and Yuko Shimizu are going to teach you how to paint and ink. But, you should go into art school (wherever you end up) willing to work hard regardless of who’s instructing you.

One last note: if you’re being heavily recruited by MCA, that means that they really want you. And because the school is so small that doesn’t stop once you get to campus. We teachers talk about y’all all the time and if you’re superlative, then everyone definitely takes notice.

So take all this for what it’s worth (a blog post on tumblr). Again, feel free to e-mail me if you have any additional questions.

------------------------------------------

Wouldn't be complete without some art...

Iwo Widulinski

Saturday, March 1, 2014

Couple of Call to Artists

Calls To Artists

•MCA 2014 Biennial Alumni Exhibition

MCA announces a call to alumni for participation in the 2014 Biennial Alumni Exhibition. Entry is open to all degreed alumni and those who have completed 12 hours in a degree-seeking program. Entries must be one of a kind and have been completed within the last five years (2009–2014). Artists may submit up to two pieces in any media, including installation and performance pieces. Guidelines and submission form can be found at mca.edu/mcaalumni. For additional information, email alumni@mca.edu.

•2nd Annual Best of Memphis Student Show

Undergraduate and graduate students attending the University of Memphis, Memphis College of Art, Rhodes College or Christian Brothers University are welcome to submit entries to the Best of Memphis exhibition at U of M's Box Gallery, juried and curated by MCA instructor Tad Lauritzen Wright (MFA '02). Multiple prizes will be awarded. The exhibition runs March 24 – April 11 with a reception April 4, 5–7 p.m. Submission deadline is March 9. For complete rules and submission info, visit the Box Gallery Facebook page. Contact the Box Gallery via Facebook or email box.gallery.email@gmail.com with any questions.

•Diablo III Fan Art Contest

Malthael, The Angel of Death, has manifested in the mortal realm of Sanctuary with a deadly new purpose: to steal the Black Soulstone and bend its infernal power to his will.

Prepare yourself! Show one or more central figures getting ready for the coming conflict against Malthael. You may choose figures from the six heroes of Sanctuary or even Malthael himself!

We've provided a trove of images and supplies of references to assist in your task.

A 2 night trip to Blizzard HQ in Irvine, CA to meet the artists and developers of Diablo III!*

A framed print of the 1st place entry signed to the artist by the Diablo III Creative Team

$5,000 USD

Signed boxed copy of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector's Edition

8,000 deviantART Points

1-year Premium Membership to deviantART.com

A framed print of the 2nd place entry signed to the artist by the Diablo III Creative Team

$3,000 USD

Signed boxed copy of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector's Edition

4,000 deviantART Points

6-month Premium Membership to deviantART.com

A framed print of the 3rd place entry signed to the artist by the Diablo III Creative Team

$1,000 USD

Signed boxed copy of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector's Edition

4,000 deviantART Points

6-month Premium Membership to deviantART.com

Signed boxed copy of Diablo III: Reaper of Souls Collector's Edition

1,000 deviantART Points

READ MORE ABOUT IT HERE...

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

False Starts

Title: False Starts
Medium: Photoshop CS3 & CS6
Scale: Varies

Notes: I think the most important thing to realize here, is that this happens to everyone. The sketching. I used to think this was a bad thing to not finish what you start. And I still think it sometimes. The point though, is to realize that sometimes the process is just as important as what you ultimately get out of the final piece.

John Lee goes on about this type of thing over and over here. I would honestly suggest that you read a bunch of this to really get some good advice!

More pretty sound advice from Jeff Simpson at the Collective here. (thanks Erica!)

All-in-all, the point I'm trying to make is two-fold:

1) Do whatever it takes to get your final piece out. I mean, WHATEVER it takes. The industry from what I understand has such a huge turnaround rate that I think it's important to note that you might have to make finalized pieces in a day. I once read an article (can't find it at the moment) that talked about if you have a week to finish a piece, it better be a damn good piece. If you have an hour, then you give them your very best in an hour. Point being, always try your damn best!

2) Sometimes just purely sketching is just as important as finalized pieces. Just make sure that all of your sketching is actively pushing you towards some goal or you are just sketching for the sake of sketching. While this may work for certain artists (mainly because they lack a specific end-goal) you should always be actively researching things, making them look representational (and I could start a whole rant about how stylized and abstraction should be first influenced by correct basics, such as proper anatomy, proper color theory, etc.), and overall, making them appealing. Not specifically to everyone else, make sure that YOU enjoy your output. If you can't love your own work, how do you expect anyone else to?

ANYWAY... just some thoughts I had while sketching.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Craig Davison