Hey guys! The book came in!! Go pick it up at Barnes and Noble for 20% off, or get it at Amazon for cheap too!! Support the arts!!

First Assignments of the Semester!

So the new school year has begun, I am a senior and am about half-way through my first semester. Ohh lordy are things crazy! But I'm buckling down big time this year and getting things to be GOOD. The "They Draw and Cook" Cookbook has been shipped to all those that pre-ordered it and if you would still like to order it, here's the Amazon page.

Here's the work I've gotten done so far this semester:

                                                              Fragile Earth Assignment

                                                                   11"x14", Acrylic

This was my first assignment for my Illustration 4 class and was a response illustration to the "Fragile Earth" show from the Society of Illustrators that was being displayed at MassArt. My idea came from the  "deer forests" at zoos that allow people to come in and feed the deer, and that these deer have become naive to what they're being fed by humans. 

11"x17"

Acrylic, Digital

This was my first piece for my Illustrative Mask Making class. The assignment was to create a Halloween-type character, make a mask and an illustration for the character. This is my "Zombie Narwhal" in all of it's zombie movie poster glory. The mask images are as follow:

The mask was made with a wire frame covered in layers of masking tape, followed by paint. 

"Riding Hood"

12"x18", Watercolor

This was assignment number 2 for Illustration 4. We were to create a montage illustration with multiple things happening in one scene. I focused this illustration much more in my career interest of tattooing. 

We were also given a "curveball" for our image in which our teacher assigned us a major thing to change about our illustration as if we were working with a client and were asked to make changes. I was asked to put wood grain in the background but not in the detail of the image. Here's my end result:

The semester has been productive so far for sure. I will be updating in a couple of days about a show that some of my work will be showcased in. Keep following!

-Maegan

Guacamole Now Available for Prints!

So the first of every month, They Draw and Cook sends me out an email with progress on their blog, book, etc. Today I was informed that all the illustrations from the book are now available on GreatBigCanvas for prints! There are many options to choose from either a print out, 3 panel canvas, floating canvas, or framed canvas, all with a variety of different sizes. Prices range from $63-$677. It is a little pricey however, but I do get some royalties and this is a huuuuge opportunity for me! So check out my print here and view the others as well!

-Maegan

Just a sketch I've been futzing with the last few days. Whooo I needa sketch more lol.

Skate of the Art!

To all that enjoy my work and to all who are in the Worcester area next month, I will be included in a group art show at Out of the Dark World! Skate of the Art is a group art show held every year where a bunch of local artists paint skateboard decks and put them on display. This year things are a little different where we painted pairs of Vans canvas shoes donated to us. This is the first gallery show I'll actually be a part of because I'm really good at missing deadlines to most (will work on not doing that this upcoming year). The opening reception is August 6th from 7-10pm! For you facebookers here's the facebook event page. Once I finish my pair of shoes I may upload them onto my blog for you guys to have a sneak peak at ;]

But really, if you're in the area stop on by! I'd totally appreciate it!

-Maegan

This was just a sketch I started after buying some sweet new pencils. The more I continued, the more I really liked this piece. Needless to say I loved it when I finished and bought a sweet frame for it to hang in my room! Skulls are becoming an almost unhealthy obsession in my art lately. Watch out for the tattoo! Haha seems like every time I like putting something in my art I get it tattooed. Unfortunately I am too focused on saving my money to really think about getting tattoos. Especially since my 21st birthday is about 5 days away. Anyway, here's that image!

Degree Project

So the first half of degree project is mainly research and developing ideas. Our goal for the class was to have two finished pieces by the end of the semester. Mine were very experimental - working with different materials and new techniques. The first image is my glasswork piece. This piece was done by silk screening the image of the woman onto two pieces of sheet glass then fusing them together in the kiln, one on top of the other. The result was better than I had expected and got amazing feedback from my classmates. This is a technique I would enjoy using for future projects.

This second painting was kind of an idea thought up between me and the help of my professor. We thought it would be interesting to make a painting with 3D elements, always something I wanted to do, but never pushed myself to do. I made half the dog skull from wire, paper mache, and masking tape. The marigold flowers are made from tissue paper and the red banner is construction paper that I hand cut. Another successful experiment in my eyes. "The Dog Altar"

And to throw these in, these are the last two of my glass projects. My last glassblown piece was a little shot glass with a sweet handle. I also made a sandblasted skull. Sandblasting was a really fun experience, totally new and totally different result.

Word and Image Final

Our final project for Word and Image was to make a broadway musical poster for a movie that has not been created into a musical yet. I decided to do my take on "Jumanji the Musical".

10.5" x 16.5" Watercolor, ink, digital.

Illustration III 2011.

These are the remaining projects from my Illustration III class. Our final project we worked with a client from Half Price Books about creating a series of five paintings reminiscent of children's stories. I chose to make a series based off a polar bear cub out on an adventure through the sea and meeting all the sea creatures along the way.

All images 11 x 14 acrylic.

Another assignment was to take the Statue of Liberty and to make some sort of statement about society using the iconic statue as our focal point. I decided to poke fun at society's media idols such as the beloved Jersey Shore characters. I present to you, Snooki of Liberty.

More Work Coming Soon!

Sorry for the lack of updates guys, I'm currently right about the end the semester so things have been crazy hectic. But I should have the rest of my work from the semester, scanned/photographed and uploaded within the next week or so. Don't forget to check back!

-Maegan

They Draw and Cook

Hey guys! If any of you remember awhile back I had mentioned that my "Guacamole Recipe" illustration was being published into a book. Well time has passed and the book is now available for PRE-ORDER! If you pre-order the book now you get 32% OFF. The retail price of this book is $19.95, but with pre-order you can have it for $13.57. So if anyone is interested in having a published version of one of my illustrations make sure to pre-order your book now!!! It contains 107 recipe illustrations from artists all around the world! So it will be a gem to have. The book is expected to ship out in either August or September.

SO if you're interested, click this link here to get your 32% off Pre-Order special!!!

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1616281383/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=thedraandcoo-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=1616281383

Thanks for all that follow/support my art, it really means the world to me!!

-Maegan

Word and Image

So here's the last couple assignments I worked on for my Word and Image class, pretty excited about the both of them!

The most recent one I finished was a two-page spread of a mock ABC book. We had to come up with a concept for the ABC book then think of 5 different spreads and finish one. I decided to do the ABCs of Sea Creatures. And here's my finish!

10.5"x16.5" Digital Media

And the other assignment I had was to redesign the cover of an existing book, preferably a book with a non-desirable cover. I picked up the Grimm's Fairy Tales book from the library that had a cover and illustrations drawn by young children with crayons, so I thought I'd give this one a shot. I got a lot of feedback after doing happy fairy tale images, to go darker since the Grimm's Fairy Tales were not all so innocent. This was my outcome.

9.5"x13.5" Watercolor and Digital

Glass Octopus

So our last day in the hot shop before we moved to silkscreening on glass, our teacher asked each of us what we wanted to make. Well, Dave bought me a beautiful glass octopus awhile back and I thought it would be fun to make my own. Obviously mine is a more "sculptural" approach, since I only had about 6 weeks glassblowing experience. But here's what we came up with.

I'm also extremely pleased to announce that I will be taking the Intermediate Glassblowing class next semester. So I can call myself a full time Illustrator, part time Glassblower. So exciting!

Glass Work

Here's some pictures of my very first glassblown cup.

And images of my first vase..

And my glass pumpkin!

Snooki of Liberty...beginning process.

This is the beginning of awesome. Look out for the finished.

Word and Image

So this semester I am taking a Word and Image class which is basically if Typography 1 and Illustration had a baby class. So the illustration elements of pictures that tell stories meshed with the design of adding words. Our first assignment was to create our own typeface, which proved to be a little harder and time-consuming than expected. We were also urged to use a tool other than the traditional pencil or marker to create our type. I made my alphabet using a screw, giving it that uneven creepy look.

Our second assignment for this class was to take a word that described our font, blow it up, and make an illustration inside the word. I chose the word "Frightful".

Glass Fishie!

So I picked up my wonderful in class project - my first glass fish! I made this during my Intro to Glass class, which I am absolutely amazed with! I love this class so much. It's so nice to have a class where I'm hands on working with something 3D, which as an illustrator, I do not get to do very often. This was the first things we made in the class, just getting used to using the tools and working with solid glass before we start blowing.

His eyes are a little wonky, it's hard to cut glass when the tool is kind of in your way of seeing what part you are actually cutting. It's funny because one eye points down and one eye points up. He's a google-eyed fish.

-Maegan

Squirrely boy

Squirrel. 11"x14". Watercolor.

This is a watercolor painting I made for my boyfriend, Dave. It's a little inside story behind our love for squirrels. So this is a squirrely eating a peachy! This is one of the verrry few paintings I've done with watercolor. It's still a very new medium to me, that I've been experimenting with in hopes that someday I can actually be decent with them. It was fun to do, a little frustrating at times because watercolor can be so unforgiving. But I think he came out purty cute, haha.

Here's a closer look at the detail in his face.

-Maegan