Visiting the Society of Illustrators was very inspiring. The illustrations that I was inspired the most was done by Orson B. Lowell specially “Family arrives at party on the wrong evening”. The illustration is about a fancy-dressed up party that turned out to be unexpected. Lowell’s work made me realize that there is no limits when it comes to drawing. He used three sheets of drawing paper and put them together as one final drawing which I never thought I would see such technique. It is amazing how he perfectly continued to the next page as if he never left the first.

I always thought that this type of illustration wouldn’t have any mistakes until I saw white spots with corrections through the drawings. That shows that every illustrator have a tough time to come up with a perfect art work. Lowell shows humor by the expression shown on the people’s face when they see their family on costumes. Furthermore, Lowell’s ways of drawing has taught me how amazing it is to work with ink by just doing cross hatching with lines although it takes a lot of practice and dedication to make a perfect piece of art.

While visiting the NY Society of Illustrators I came across one work in particular that stood out and really spoke to me on a personal level. ‘Girlhood’ by Siobhan Gallagher is an illustration that I think a lot of people can relate to and not just women. The way that the illustration is drawn out is very unique in a kind of a newspaper comic style and it is very simplistic and straight forward and easy to understand. I related to this on a personal level because I have experienced the scenarios drawn out in the illustration; no matter what I do or how I look sometimes, somebody or everyone will outright say that I’m doing something wrong or criticize me.

The illustrator Siobhan Gallagher, graduated with a BDes from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University in 2012. She has previously worked at Penguin Random House and has been featured on Bust, Us Weekly, The Huffington Post, and Refinery29. She has also won the Society of Illustrator’s Silver Medal of Excellence in the single image category for her other illustration pictured below.

From what I have gathered about Gallagher’s overall illustration style, is based a lot around her personality, inner thoughts, or even her poking fun at herself or others with relateable moments that some people may go through (i.e. the silver metal winning illustration). The illustration that I chose was a scenario that was relateable and something that a lot of people experience and think about. I think that Gallagher definitely experienced the feeling of ‘not being good enough” or as she describes in the illustration “doing something wrong”. I also think her technique is very unique since it reminds me of those little newspaper comic strips that I mentioned earlier. I also think her drawing style stands out to me because the overall drawings of the human characters are very simple but when she wants them to stand out she makes them stand out when looking through her work.

Illustration that Gallagher won a Silver Metal of Excellence for at NY Society of Illustrators:

The artwork that I chose was the ‘Gang Fight’ illustration by Ed Vebell. This piece was initially published in Sunday Mirror Magazine on July 10, 1955. Ed Vebell was born on May 25, 1921 in Chicago. It was evident at a young age that Vebell had a talent for drawing. After graduating high school, he won scholarships to three different art schools. Ed Vebell has lived an interesting life as an artist and outside of being an artist. He was a key artist assigned to Stars and Stripes in Europe and North Africa. He also had a chance to be one of the few artists to sketch the Nuremberg trials. Also, Vebell was an Olympic fencer. Vebell was a master draftsman with a physician’s knowledge of human and animal anatomy, which more than likely helped him with his illustrations.

In the Gang Fight illustration, Vebell used gouache on an illustration board to execute. The characters and the setting in the illustration give you a sense of the time period they were based off of. The fashion choice of the characters make you think about how different society was back in the day; as well as the old style lamppost. The red color choice of their clothes make the illustration pop more but it also ties in with the aggressive tone that the piece gives off. That’s something that really attracted to me to this piece. The simple connection from the color choice to the context of piece really made me interested. The old style setting also reminded me of the movies ‘The Warriors’ at first glance.

Poor Old Things! Strange That His Case Has Never Been Correctly Diagnosed.              Illustration by Orson B. Lowell for the LIFE magazine in 1907,  Lowell depicts the changes of society, that slowly but surely progress to be more including and progressive for woman. it depicts the more openly higher education for woman and how society may have still force the role’s of traditional society, the change was to be imminent. The way that Lowell lines and the variations of closeness to each for variation of shades and the smoke presented in contrast of the graduation cape will make it hard for most to find a solution to this problem but Lowell finds a way to solve this and more.

Where is The Ball by the illustrator and cartoonist Anuj Shrestha. the illustration depicts a puppy dog looking into the abyss under a night full of stars, in what seems to be a desolated dessert valley with no trace of civilization and with one only question “where is the ball”. while not depicting a literally post apocalyptic dystopian future, the scenario that Shrestha depicts is of the one dog that seems to be the only soul over the face of the earth, with no trace of any other human to play catch, wondering the one only question where the ball could be? where humanity was left or got lost? While taking symbolism to its maximum core, I see the meaning of this illustration under the lenses of nihilism vs existentialism. we can view the star-full night as metaphor for space and its infinity, the lack of any trace of civilization can be view as the position of humanity in thin infinite space, and how insignificant can it be, and over all we can take the question asked of  Where is The Ball as where is the purpose or meaning to existence. in the long run we can see this illustration as the battle of giving purpose or meaning to our lives and actions, and how soul crushing and lonely it can be when we don’t find that purpose that motivated us to keep forward.

I was completely enamored by the atmosphere when I first stepped into the Society of Illustrators. In fact, I was inspired by a few pieces at the museum. I fell in love with the “On the Porch,” piece by George Stavrinos. Coming up the landing it would be easy to miss, but the shading and the position of the model in the composition really captured my attention. It was also fascinating to learn that it was a fashion ad for Bergdorf Goodman. This piece really spoke to my fashion background, which is something that will never die. I absolutely love the folds in the fabric, which is something that I need to work on.

George Stavrinos was an American illustrator and graphic artist. He was well known for his advertising pieces for Bergdorf Goodman, and even magazines such as GQ and Cosmopolitan. His work exudes luxury, drama, elegance, sex appeal, and the women he drew have a powerful presence. I could almost say that the women in his illustrations represent the old Balmain woman, (one of my favorite fashion houses) way before the the takeover of creative director Olivier Rousteing. He also managed to make the fabric of his rendered pieces look so soft. It’s almost imagine what the fabric would feel like. After researching his work I was pleasantly surprised when I stumbled across his process. It was amazing to see how my creative process is similar to that of a great artist. Stavrinos’ process included lots of photographs and sketches before producing the finished drawing. Stavrinos will definitely be an artist that influences my work.

DREW STRUZAN

I enjoyed the trip to the Society of Illustrators and seeing all the different styles and mediums used. An image that I was glad to see up close was Drew Struzan’s Harry Potter illustration.

Drew Struzan is primarily known for being the illustrator of many iconic movie posters such as: Indiana Jones, Back to the Future, Goonies and many more others.I had recently watched a documentary about him and appreciated the opportunity to see his work up close and to view the texture and highlights he incorporates up close.

.Drew went to Art school in California and initially got a  job after college designing record covers, his covers caught the attention of numerous studio executives and he began getting commissioned to do movie posters.

I had recently watched a documentary about him and appreciated the opportunity to see his work up close and to view the texture and highlights he incorporates up close. Struzan’s process involves first making a   pencil drawing before painting with either acyclic or oil, he sometimes also uses an airbrush to layer over the pencil to give it a more translucent feel. Struzan then finishes details and highlights with colored pencil. I really like Drew’s compositions, no matter which movie poster you look at there is always so much going on.    I found it interesting that movie posters have a formula where a   certain percentage of the poster is alotted to actors based on their part in the movie, so not only did he have to make a visually appealing piece he also had to incorporate that formula into his composition. have become so

Drew’s illustrations have become so synonymous with the movies he has illustrated for that when people recall those movies,  his depictions,   not the movie are the first images that comes to mind for many people.

I spent my commute the week before the trip drooling over Orson Byron Lowell’s illustrations so much, I almost forgot to look up more information on him that just his works. Pictures online do not do his works justice. It was hard to pull myself away from one illustration of his to admire the next. From afar or at a smaller size, the images look picture perfect, as if a pen had not even been involved. Upon a closer look I saw how much of his work consists of shading and hatching, the drawings almost void of a significant contour some of the times. What I used to consider scribbles Lowell used it fully in his works, understanding both the medium and his subjects. Some of his work was pretty ironic, for example “Birthdays” piece, depicting how much youths are in a rush to grow up while the elder women are running away from it. Most of his works depict the middle to upper class, dapper gentlemen and elegant ladies, the latter in all forms of stylish attire. One thing I certainly learned from his work is the importance of knowing the subject and that it’s not necessary to have perfect lines to execute perfection.