Broked

My website broked! It's being addressed.

In case you need to reach me:

jill (AT) jilliantamaki (dot..) com

P.S. I bought some pencil crayons today. I have been told only Canadians call them pencil crayons... "colored pencils" is the proper, grown-up American term. I still prefer "pencil crayon".

Sly Guy

Cultists Animation

Kent St. John made and sent in this lil' "animation" of the Cultists thing I made a few weeks ago!

Cooool.



Thanks, Kent!

A-B-C

(Click to Enlarge.)

A common foible of learning to work in ink is accepting the fact that ink is not pencil. Most of us learn how to draw ("properly") with pencils, so it's the implement that we are most comfortable. Ink is obviously much less forgiving.

I held individual meetings with my 2nd year Cartooning students today and recommended to all of them to keep an Ink Only sketchbook over the summer. No pencil or preparatory drawings allowed. Experimenting with the media in a very pure form will help you learn what is and what is not possible. It's a matter of adaptation and working with the media's strengths. Very zen.

(I actually stole this idea from Sam, who kept an Ink Only sketchbook in the summer between 3rd and 4th year. He improved dramatically. )

This drawing is from a similar sketchbook I'm keeping now, experimenting with washes and painting.

Thaw Thoughts

(Click to Enlarge.)

Smoke Signal #4 + Other Stuff

Hi All,

Dirty Mike has been published in Desert Island's Smoke Signal zine. Thanks, Gabe!

It's available in-store (540 Metropolitan Ave, Brooklyn) and online.

OTHER NEWS!

♪ I will be at San Diego Comic-con.

♪ I will be on a panel at MoCCA.

♪ Skim will appear in my foreign translations! Edicoes SM (Brazil) will publish the book in Portugese and Uitgeverij Sherpa (Holland) will translate to Dutch. NICE!

♪ I'm attending this year's ICON event in Los Angeles, where I will eat many, many burritos.

Sad Day

This is an image about a father's illness that is in the current issue of Men's Health Magazine. (AD Vikki Nestico.)

Unfortunately it coincides with some sad news about the passing of ACAD teacher Eugene Ouchi. I never had Eugene as a teacher, but I know some of you probably did. I remember him as a very kind fellow. You can see his work here.

Dinner

Click to Enlarge.

Not Re-Inventing the Wheel

These pictures are from a killed job.

Sometimes I have to laugh at how seriously people take illustration ("people", of course, being illustrators themselves). Of course, there's a degree of conceptual thinking, intellectualization, etc., but I have found that a large chunk of the jobs one encounters involves creating pleasant, positive images.



I don't mind doing this sort of thing from time-to-time. It makes me feel like an old-timey illustrator and there's a certain challenge to bringing a little finesse to such content. Drawn.ca recently posted about a cookbook illustrated by Charley Harper that speaks to this.

Animals

Radio Silence.

Sorry! I've been in Florida again. I'm addicted!

Anyway, this isn't really anything comprehensive... just a few excerpts from a handout on Animal Anatomy I'm putting together for my class tomorrow. I get asked to draw quite a few animals, so unlike some other things we've gone over in class (perspective!), I actually feel somewhat qualified to speak on the subject.

There is no formula to trick to drawing animals, or anything else for that matter. Only through observation (ideally from life), and practice will give you a fundamental understanding of structure and form. This might be a bit of a bummer to hear as a student, but I believe it's the truth and applies to all drawing.

Skim in Softcover

The softcover version of Skim is now available. I believe the cover price is $12.95 US.

Cultists 8 (The End.)

Cultists 7

Cultists 6

Cultists 5

Cultists 4

Cultists 3

Cultists 2

Cultists

Mountain Woman