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       Society of Illustrators San Diego
Society of Illustrators
San Diego
Art
Illustrators
Illustration
Commercial art
Society
Artists
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The Fine Art
of Ilustration
Palomar
College, Boehm Gallery, Tuesday, April 6, 1999
Exhibition
Participants:
Mark English, David Christiana, Chris Hopkins, Gary Kelley, Joe
Nakamura, Joyce Kitchell, Greg Shed, Everett Peck, Robert Jew,
Kitty Meek, Rafael Lopez, Steve Miller, Ken Joudrey, Michael
Steirnagle, Mark Ryden, Brad Holland, Chris Polentz, Kim Fraley,
Les & Diane Dillon, Marshall Arisman and Greg Spalenka.
The
“Fine Art of Illustration” exhibition and meeting was
an event not to miss. In this outstanding collection or original
artwork, Harry Bliss, the Boehm gallery director, and artist
Michael Steirnagle, worked together to present some of the most
talented illustrators in the U.S. today. Several of the illustrators
were in attendance to speak personally about their work and answer
questions for the audience. The following is an abreviated recap
of the meeting.
Michael
Steirnagle
Michael
featured work from his personal collection of fine art, figurative
portraits. Michael is already known for his commercial pastel
work (shown) in both the national and children’s book market.
Prior to that, he was established as a successful, commercial
airbrush illustrator. On display at the exhibit and with the
support of his family, Michael presented his new style that will
bridge the gap between the commercial art and fine art markets.
He spoke about the recent acceptance and growth of new illustrators
in the commercial market who have the confidence to create art
that is inspired from within. They find commercial markets that
will buy their art. Years prior, Michael explained, most illustrators
created art that would answer the questions: Who is the client?
and What is the solution to the client’s problem? Of course,
this still applies for a great deal of art today, but the rules
within which commercial artists work have expanded to include
solutions that satisfy both the artist’s need to express
something meaningful and the client’s need to find a solution
to their problem.
Kim
Fraley
Kim
is best known by all of us as the President of the Society of
Illustrators San Diego for a record number of years! Not only
is she a terrific leader and a long-term Palomar College instructor,
she is also a terrific illustrator. Never far from her pencil
and sketch pad, Kim’s work can be found in numerous books
and magazines. She says she sketches from observation and uses
photos or live models (usually her friends) as reference. She
also loves to paint and works in both color and black and white.
She says the best part of painting is pushing the colors around
and letting the picture come together on its own. This allows
the viewer to finish the piece. Keep up the great work Kim!
Rafael
Lopez
Rafael
originally started working as an art director and designer for
advertising agencies. At the time, he did not think he had the
patience to work with paint. After trying multiple styles, Rafael
finally settled on a fusion of graphic style and paint that honors
his need to express himself. His style has won him national advertising
accounts and is bold, fun and quick (less than 3 days to produce
most pieces). He says his style was inspired by graphic design,
muralists and his homeland, Mexico. He does not use reference
for his work and accepts a wide range of jobs from prospective
clients in order to keep painting fun and interesting. Rafael
encouraged the audience to become good listeners and communicators
in order to work with clients successfully and stressed the importance
of determination and individualism as a criteria for pursuing
a career in the highly competitive illustration market.
Chris
Polentz
Chris
has been a freelance illustrator for over fourteen years and
is also an art instructor at Palomar College. He says that after
he graduated from college he used to create tight illustrations
but later began to experiment with textures and a looser style.
To start a painting Chris uses photo reference when he needs
to understand how a form works and then plays with different
postures and lighting. He than proceeds to exagerate the proportions
and colors. Because of his past experiences, Chris felt new illustrators
should create art that was personally satisfying as well as functional.
Steve
Miller
Steve
has also been working toward a more personal expression for his
commercial illustration work. He explained to the audience that
it often takes some time to find one’s unique expressive
style because many artist’s had been indoctrinated to work
by a certain method. In addition, the practical matters of supporting
a family often preceed the plight of a “struggling”
fine artist. So, it was not until recently Steve was able to
take a sabbatical from teaching to explore different techniques.
His new style is of a more personal nature and the main themes
he is attracted to are related to the human condition. By using
a type of iconography, as he calls it, he attempts to breathe
life into a rendering which goes beyond the inanimate by giving
it a sense of life and energy. Steve’s art work is done
using colored pencils, oil pastels and paint. He likes to incorporate
metallics and textures as well. Steve explained even though technical
skills are the vehicle for getting a certain result, passion
in art is what makes it comes alive.
Ken
Joudrey
Ken
began his career by spending several years in New York city after
graduating from college in order to be near the advertising and
publishing industries. His realistic illustrations have frequented
mystery and romance novels, magazines, cookbooks and more. He
says he always wanted to draw animals and believes the best jobs
are within the publishing industry because they give artists
the most compositional freedom. Ken explained his style has a
lot to do with creating environments rather than being conceptually
based. He pushes the colors, shapes and details in order to get
a unique richness in his compositions. To do this, Ken has become
a detective, of sorts, by studying shapes up close and determing
how they fit together. This means getting the right negative
space and visualizing all the shapes together. He does this by
doing tight thumbnails and then he blows them up for a final
look. Because his work is done with such detail, the audience
was surprised when he stated he trys to edit out as much as possible!
All could see that Ken has the magical ability of bringing an
illustration to life.
Robert
Jew
Robert
says he is best known for his detailed rendering of plant life
and small animals. A past graduate of Palomar College, a number
of his past instructors delighted in telling stories about Robert
in their classrooms. Robert took this all with good humor and
admitted that when he first graduated that his freelance portfolio
was “all over the place” and realized his mistake of
having many different styles. Robert decided to take a year off
to develop a unique style. The results are impressive and delighted
the audience. Robert talked about his “Earth Day Poster”
and how he used his wife as a model for reference. His wife,
Kitty Meek, is also a talented and successful illustrator and
together, Robert and Kitty, have given birth to a new baby boy
and some great art.
Greg
Spalenka
Greg
has been a freelance illustrator for over seventeen years. He
explained to the audience how his personal vision and what it
says have been the most important aspects of his career. His
evolution as an artist is a result of his own internal struggle.
He advised new illustrators to allow for their style to evolve
by taking chances and pushing the limits. Only then, says Greg,
will artists be able to bridge the gap between what they love
to create and what people will buy. He says it is essential for
the artist to know themselves first and then find a way to bring
the work to the commercial or fine art markets. When Greg creates,
he builds layers and allows the piece to evolve at its own pace.
His goal is to pull the viewer in, stop them, and then bring
them closer to meaning. He says he never knows how the piece
is going to turn out but by pushing the limits, digging and surrendering
to his own need to find out more about himself, the results are
well worth his struggles. Greg recently has been creating his
work on the computer.
—Pamela
Wells
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