a turliphant

metamorphosis insectorum surinamensium

My cousin recently purchased a book by Maria Sibylla Merian (April 2, 1647 – January 13, 1717), a German naturalist and botanic illustrator. I'd never heard of this artist, and as I browsed through the book's pages I was quickly impressed and enamored with her engravings. Merian spent two years traveling the then-Dutch colony of Surinam, sketching the exotic fauna and flora of its interior rain forests. In 1705, she published her third book Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium, collecting her engravings (based on her watercolor sketches) from her time abroad. Merian's careful chronicling of the life cycle of caterpillars and butterflies greatly contributed to entomology. This went against the prevailing opinion of the day, as it was commonly thought insects "spontaneously generated out of rotting mud". Her trip to Surinam in and of itself is also noteworthy, as not many women in the 1700s sailed across the seas without the company of a man to explore the New World colonies.

The following illustrations are a few of my many favorites from her third book. Her attention to detail, use of color and compositions are superb. I'd really love to see the original sketches behind these masterful engravings.


More information on Maria Sibylla Merian can be found here and here.

my resolution solution

It's been a while since we last saw each other. What's kept me? Well, I started a new full-time job in November which has drained me of my energy, resulting in my neglected blog (and sketchbook… and everything else). Now that it's 2010, I've decided that my resolution this year was to really dedicate all of my (free) time to my various projects; preparing for eventually exhibiting at local comic conventions and even self-publishing my comic. Here's a little list of what I hope to accomplish this year:

+ First and foremost, work on Alien Raver, my web-comic (which you can see here). I'm starting over, adding more details to the story and basically re-drawing everything seen up to this point. My main goal is to complete and possibly self-publish the first chapter of my in-my-head-this-is-going-to-be-a-sprawling-epic comic. Finishing the entire comic might take me longer than a year, but I want a good head start. If I can even get the whole story down on paper, that would be an amazing accomplishment.

+ As a companion piece to my comic, I want to create an Alien Raver ABC book. I'd like it to be a silk-screened limited edition book, with crazy detailed illustrations of everyone's favorite no-name buzzard & friends in crazy situations corresponding to a letter in the alphabet. Considering starting a kickstarter project to help fund this goal. This would also assist in another goal of mine…

+ …I would like to build a strong illustration portfolio and apply to SVA's MFA Illustration Department for Fall 2011. Financially I have no idea how I am going to do this, but for now I want to focus on creating a better body of work. I generally want to hone my skills in the areas of inking, painting (with gouache) and printmaking. I never want to lose steam creativity.

+ Redesign my website/blog. Not completely though. I like what I have going on, I just want to make it all work better and look more cohesive. So don't be surprised when you see more doodles of me in random costumes floating around my portfolio site.

+ More sketching! Gonna try sketching at least once a week, which seems fesible considering all the planning I have to do for Alien Raver.

I'm excited for what I can accomplish this year. So stick around and expect more posts full of sketches, works-in-progress, finished illustrations and comics galore!

radon the noble

From last week's drawing session.

kryptoness

This week's model was particularly hard to draw, and I wasn't the only one who had trouble in class. At some point I decided to forgo drawing her head (or actually create an entirely new face), which yielded better results.

green line woman

helios

These are the 5, 10, and 20 minute poses (respectively) from last week's life drawing class. By the end of the session I had gotten the hang of it. Still need to speed up, though. Wondering if I should go tomorrow or stay home and work on other endeavors?

two minute contour drawings

skull

Saw this lying around the apartment and decided to work on my inking/brush skills. Might do something with the background…

high line contour

Had an opportunity to visit The High line on Labor Day, and drew this quick sketch while taking in the view.