2012 Ely

Poster art by Andy Hood

Every year, my school's/University of the Arts' illustration department holds a juried exhibition of the senior students' thesis works called the "ELY Exhibition". Here's the website's description:

 "This annual competitive exhibition features the work of the entire senior class of Illustration majors, giving them the opportunity to show their work to thousands of people. Endowed by its namesake in 1964, the William H. Ely Award for Excellence in Illustration is a juried exhibition featuring work ranging from CD jackets to concert posters, magazine spreads to elaborately ornamented surfboards. Cash prizes are awarded for the top three entries."

This year was judged by 3 artists: Jon Bartlett, Joe Devito, and Dan Blackman. There were 4 prizes given out and 4 honorable mentions. Every piece submitted to the gallery was extraordinary and everyone worked their asses off. Unexpectedly, my pieces were chosen for first prize.

A major congratulations to John Thomas, Kelsey Niziolek, Leah Romero, Michelle Miller, Nancy Hill, Crystal Ben, Andy Burger, and, well, everyone! It was a seriously great show.
I know I've uploaded some of the progress on these, but here are my 4 finished pieces:

~James

ELY page 3 and 4

Posting this a little late, but here's the progress on the comic. Keep in mind that the colors need massive revising.

~James

ELY Comic

Doing a comic book for the ELY Illustration Exhibition at UArts. Here are the first 2 pages. Some of the color still needs some changes. I'll throw the sketches up on here too, just so you can see them from infancy to near adulthood. Soon they'll be collecting social security. They grow up so fast.

~James

Lawn Mowers and Bears

Here's the finished colors for this piece. It's something I was doing along with the Summer program kids that I've been assistant teaching. The idea was to illustrate a word, so I chose "Brave". I think it turned out okay, though I like the black and white a lot more. Still fun and a good way to keep me on my toes as far as creative thinking is concerned. This other piece is another one I'm doing along with the program kids, which is to design a T-shirt for an event, so the "National Lawn Mower Races" was given to me. These are the inks for the main image (colors and type to come). COPOUT's next issue, featuring Mike and Shayna, is coming out this Friday. So be sure to find us on 2nd street near Brave New Worlds comic store to get your free copy.

 ~James