Archive for the 'in the wringer' Category

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In the wringer: Oils

Posted in in the wringer on Wednesday, May. 30, 2007


(Click on the image for a larger version.)

The plumbers were supposed to come this morning, but they stood me up! So I was up very early, not quite well-slept enough, but with time to actually work in the beautiful light in my livingroom. I decided to add some tree details that had been missing from this painting, as well as a few more greens to the lawn.

It was one of those surreal, technicolor first days of spring, the day I took this snapshot of Otis looking up the hill.

(It’s not done yet!)

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What’s a cartoonist wearing (and drawing) today?

Posted in in the wringer, newyorkette style on Friday, May. 25, 2007


(Click on the image for a larger version)

I did this last year, too. I guess I always start the season off with what feels like the perfect outfit for a perfect first day of hot weather. Cool enough for outside, and warm enough for the subway or movies.

While I was at it, I found a job posting for J. Peterman calling for illustrators for their catalogue, and sent this drawing to them as part of my work samples. Because if there’s one thing I can do fast and easy, it’s drawing clothes. And it would be even more fun to be paid for it!

Cross your fingers!

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In the wringer: watercolors

Posted in in the wringer on Sunday, May. 13, 2007


(Click on the image to see a larger version)

I finally found my long lost watercolors, and just in time, because lo and behold I suddenly got requests for color work. So, here are a few of the things I’ve been working on. First, my favorite, Otis. I saw him looking up the hill upstate, and was enchanted enough by his silhouette to snap a pic. Above is just a preliminary pencil and watercolor rough.

Next, Land’s End asked me for three rough conceptual drawings of an airplane pulling a giant t-shirt… Their logo would have been in the top quarter of the drawing, which is why I left room for it.

(Click on the image to see the other two versions.)

In the end, they didn’t use any of these images, because they regretted that they had actually had in mind something more along the lines of this, which I had to whip up practically on my cell phone, in the half hour before I had to run to work. I don’t think they really understood how the concept—they wanted the t-shirt to be big enough to fill the length of the page from t-shirt sleeve to t-shirt sleeve, with a tiny airplane, and some kind of landscape below—would actually translate onto the page. I assume they decided to try another idea. Fair enough, because I was paid for my roughs, which is why I can say with serenity: that’s the breaks!

Last but not least, my friends at The Bubble Lounge asked me for a quick color image for the Venice Beach Muscle Club’s appearance at their Industry Night, and here is what I came up with. There was some hesitation about the speedo, but apparently the band liked it, so the speedo stayed. I’m partial to men in speedo’s myself. (It levels the playing field for us women—why should men get to walk around with dignity while we women have nowhere to hide?)

(Click on the image to see a larger version)

Oh! And I somehow made time to do a “portrait party” with a fellow artist. We met at The Met, and drew eachother’s portraits for the Portrait Party blog. Here is our post, with both our portraits: Carolita Johnson and Mauricio Salmon.
See my portrait of Mauricio here.

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In the wringer: Little Neck Bay

Posted in in the wringer on Wednesday, Feb. 7, 2007


(“Train view: Little Neck Bay,” by carolita johnson. Click on the image for a larger version.)

When I was a college student, I used to commute every day from Little Neck to Manhattan. Besides the Great Neck passengers making fun of my Japanese designer outfits, the thing that bleakened my spirits the most was realizing how many hours I spent commuting. So, to make the trip seem worth it of itself (rather than just as a means to an end) I decided to look at the bay, very carefully every day as we passed it between Douglaston and Bayside, and force myself to notice and name the colors to myself in an exercise of appreciation and mental imaging.

This is my first painting of the view from the train window. Not done yet, but nearly.

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Valentine’s Day is coming…

Posted in in the wringer on Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007


(“Valentine Attack,” by Carolita Johnson. Click on the image for a larger version.)

Working on this. Originally a watercolor, it’s going to undergo some digital retouching. As it is, it already has, since it was too big go be scanned all in one go, and has been stitched together for now in a rather Frankenstein-ish way.

Be careful out there!

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In the wringer: willow tree

Posted in in the wringer on Tuesday, Jan. 23, 2007


(Willow tree, by carolita johnson. Oil on canvas.)

This is oil on canvas (48” x 48”), in an attempt to use oil paint much the way I use my ink and brush when doing cartoons. My first try, and it’s not quite done yet, but very nearly. I just needed it to try a little more before adding a tiny bit more foliage that would obscure a little bit more of the tree trunk in places. (It was just smudging, while wet.)

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In the wringer: Hump-on-Hudson

Posted in in the wringer on Sunday, Jan. 21, 2007


(“Hump-on-Hudson” or Bear Mountain, by carolita johnson. Oil on canvasboard, 14×18.)

I suppose it’s better that it’s called “Bear Mountain,” rather than what I’ve been calling it in my ignorance: “The Hudson Hump,” or alternately, the “Hump-on-Hudson.” It’s fascinated me from the train window so often that I took a picture of it during a particularly dramatic weather condition which I then tried to render in a small oil painting. Here it is. It has place of honor in my oddly palatial bathroom, where the flourescent light actually becomes it. I’ll do a bigger one when I have the extra cash to splurge on inordinate amounts of oil paint.

It’s part of my planned “Train views” series. Here’s another train view, this one on the LIRR line near Woodside.

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In the wringer: Obama

Posted in in the wringer on Wednesday, Jan. 17, 2007


(Barack Obama by carolita johnson)

Well, I was as surprised as anyone when I heard about Barack Obama’s presidentially exploratory intentions this morning. Thought about it all day, and my only response was to give his portrait a shot, since I’ve been meaning to work on my portraits lately. This is just a crop (original is bigger and less close-up). He’s sort of an attractive cross between James Stewart and an Easter Island head, don’t you think?

Anyway, it was originally drawn in 6B pencil, scanned, with color added by Photoshop. Usually I work in ink, but I liked the way the pencil looked this time.

Had a cartoon published in the magazine this week, but again, because of the holiday on Monday, they’re late getting it online, so I’ll have to wait till it’s on the cartoonbank to put it up! Maybe tomorrow!

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A friend

Posted in in the wringer on Friday, Dec. 29, 2006


“Otis, 2006,” Carolita Johnson. (Click on the image for a larger scan, the original is about 14” x 18”, india ink on watercolor paper.)

This was my big accomplishment this week: a quick portrait of Otis, a friend, as a Christmas present for the friends he lives with.

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In the wringer: all’s well!

Posted in TNY, in the wringer on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2006


(“Champagne love” image: carolita johnson)

UPDATE: so, remember this ad got stuck in the wringer because I had no idea how to make it an inch tall and still clean? It turns out that this is all taken care of by a “pre-press operator,” in my case, a company called “Adfixer” (recommended by the folks at TNY) did it for $44. That’s a fair price, and my client was happy to pay it, since they got my ad for a friendly price already. Apparently Adfixer uses a very expensive software that I don’t need to buy unless I want to be my own pre-press operator.

My ad is now in this week’s The New Yorker, on page 125. It looks good! Nice n’ clean, slightly doodly-looking, which I like. It’ll appear three more times (but I won’t post about it anymore, don’t worry!)

Thanks for the suggestions!

BTW - I’ve been K.O. in bed for the last few days due to a case of food poisoning (no, not from Taco Bell!). It seems I got it from some plum tomatos. Oddly, miles away in a totally unrelated incident, a friend of mine upstate also got food poisoning, and had unfortunately shared his tainted meal with his labrador retriever…

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In the wringer: stuck in the wringer

Posted in in the wringer on Saturday, Dec. 2, 2006


(image: carolita johnson)

So, here’s the problem. I’ve got this image, see, but I don’t know how to make it tiny and still keep it clean and print ready, see? (What’s with my Edward G. Robinson impression? Okay, see, I’m watching “Key Largo” in the background, and he’s contagious!)

Anyone know about these things? This is for a one inch high by two and a quarter inch wide B&W ad, to be placed in one of The New Yorker’s margins (paper version of the magazine, not online).

Yes, I’m one of those artists that forgot to get the proper education for illustration (but I can sew you a dress, no problem)! All I know how to do is pick up a brush, a bottle of india ink, a scanner, do a bit of retouching and send the image to the client. But I have no idea what all those “print ready” specifications mean (“bleed”? All sorts of other mumbo jumbo….). Even the “adfix” software the TNY ad people pointed my client to makes no sense to me.

Actually, this one last time I’m just going to give the image to my client and ask them to find someone competent to proceed. What I’m wondering is this: what exactly is the name of the class I need to take in order to understand advertizing print-readymaking specifications, and actually follow them in the future? Anyone?

BTW: that web address doesn’t actually exist yet! So don’t try it, if you’re tempted. Just call the phone number instead. Yes, I’m promoting my client—they must pay my bills, after all, and the more they prosper, the more I prosper! :o )
Plus, they gave me free bartending lessons! A very very nice establishment indeed, I recommend them unreservedly.

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Reject du jour: falling off the wagon

Posted in in the wringer on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006


Click on it for a close-up. (image: carolita johnson)

Okay, so I wasn’t too sure about the invitation (yesterday’s post), so I tried something a little more like I’m used to doing (above). Rejected! But, the version in yesterday’s post was definitely iffy, only half-baked, as it were. It has been improved upon, with the big bubble having been transformed into a clock, and the others eliminated. Too many black lines, I decided.

Have a look at the finished product, here. You may even want to accept the invitation, if you can afford it! (I only celebrate my new year, i.e. my birthday! I never go out on Dec. 31st—the world is crazy enough for me on a normal day!).

Any expression of preference between the two versions welcome! (Personally, I prefer the simpler, rejected version, which looks more old-fashioned to me. But I can see what’s likeable about the accepted version, there’s something intoxicating about the champagne background, and it’s definitely more festive.)

Feel free to leave a comment. Please ask for permission to use images on newyorkette.com. »

In the wringer: seriously underage drinking

Posted in in the wringer on Thursday, Nov. 30, 2006


(image: carolita johnson)

The Baby New Year’s allowed, isn’t he? This is an invitation I’m working on for The Bubble Lounge. My biggest problem right now is deciding whether to use my own handwriting (which involves a lot of retouching), or find a cool font. Still thinking about it. This is just a portion of the whole, as more room is needed in order to fill in the details of the evening (prices, drinks, dj, etc.).

(And on the “adverlita” front, I’ve just added one for Crawford in the sidebar as part of my non-corporate advertising campaign! It’s my second adverlita—the first one being for the “bird parka”!)

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In the wringer…

Posted in in the wringer on Wednesday, Oct. 25, 2006


(image: carolita johnson for The Bubble Lounge)

Well, I’ve been working on a Halloween invitation, as you might have guessed! This is just the basis for it, it’s going to be very Halloween-y on the invitation, complete with bright orange background and gothic type. I’ll put it up next week, for anyone who wants to go to a Halloween party in Tribeca!

This little kitty was originally a yellow cat, done in watercolor, not my best work. I scanned it, and began reworking it with my measly little Photoshop Elements. I’ve discovered that there’s not a lot missing in the much cheaper Elements than in the full version! All I want is to be able to create a certain old-fashioned look, without needing a printing press. And while I don’t like working fully digitally, it’s nice to be able to use a paintbrush to create a template for a drawing, scan it, and then really start playing with it in a way that doesn’t require a lot of wasted paper.

Apparently I’m not the only one! Read this interview of Bob Staake (whose latest TNY, “The Wind-up,”cover I loved), and see how his “organic” use of software evolved. Very reassuring for naive digital artists like me.

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