The Catholic Illustrator’s Guild

The 31st Annual G.K. Chesterton Conference

2012-02-09T15:24:00.003-05:00

Manalive the Movie will be premiering at the conference (hence the logo design and quote)

Watch here for more updates about the Conference!

Buy a t-shirt! hopefully for the actual conference we will have a t-shirt made from a more (ahem) distributist company than zazzle.

Fraternity of St. Alban medal

2012-02-07T17:43:00.003-05:00

A simple design. I'm not sure if the client had it made into an actual medal, but I did my part! :-)

can you help me critique this?

2012-02-03T17:49:00.011-05:00

Hi! I'm trying to create a painting of the transfiguration, but I'm not sure of how effective it is. If you could take a look at my reference photo, sketch and how the painting looks currently, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

It is 30 x 40" oil on canvas.

St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Shrine and Chapel of the Immaculate Conception

2012-01-30T18:49:00.000-05:00

What wonderful pictures everyone has been posting lately!

Last week I participated in the March for Life in Washington DC. I was part of a diocesan group, and we had the opportunity to visit Mount St. Mary's university.

There's a more detailed writeup about my trip on my blog.

from Kelly Comics to pastel sketches

2012-01-29T16:19:00.000-05:00

13 year old Kelly has switched to pastels.
She is now using pastels for sketches, school projects, caricatures...you name it.
You should see her bedroom wall. =)

Here is her portrait of St Francis. I'm not sure if this is the first one she did that she didn't like or the second one that she's submitting for a project at school. I caught a picture of it, before it gets rolled or stuffed in her backpack for school.

I couldn't resist including her latest self-portrait. If you have seen Kelly in the last year, she was probably wearing her red wool hat (yes, even in the summer months). She was inspired to create this self-portrait 'in the style of "Epic Mickey"'. If you're familiar with the "Epic Mickey" Wii game, you'll appreciate this!

You'll find Kelly Comics on her facebook page and on our family blog Equipping Catholic Families.

Recently Completed Painting

2012-01-28T15:27:00.000-05:00

This one is oil on board, roughly 9 1/2" by 11"

Early Literacy Book

2012-01-26T11:48:00.004-05:00

I spent several months this last year working on illustrations for an Early Literacy book for Seton Press. Just last week the final printed books came in the mail and, frankly, I'm very happy with how they look! Here are a few pictures:

A good little activity book for young ones.

October Shadows by Jason Tako

2012-01-24T12:49:00.002-05:00

I did a field study of this barn last October on a beautiful sunny morning. It was actually a commission for the owner of the barn. The owner asked that I paint it from another angle, but I knew that this angle would make for a beautiful painting also, so I painted it again. www.jasontako.com.

Slumbering Julia

2012-01-11T10:47:00.002-05:00

'Tis the season for drawing sleeping children (until the Feast of the Presentation, right?). Here are a few sketches of my daughter, Julia, cross posted from my own blog:

When I was Christmas shopping this year I bought myself a couple sheets of toned paper. Because if you ask me, few things are as exciting as adding white highlights to toned paper...

The Word Incarnate

2012-01-07T17:00:00.005-05:00

Epiphany Stationery

2012-01-07T16:25:00.003-05:00

The Epiphany design for my Stationery project

and a design that was too complicated so didn't reduce well (The page size is 5.5" x 8.5" and there needs to be some room to write a letter.)

Angel Head Study

2012-01-05T17:51:00.000-05:00

I went to a men's retreat several months back and was looking forward to reading a book I had purchased, The Angels & Their Mission. I think Ted Schluenderfritz did the cover design - nice work Ted! Strangely enough, the priest at the retreat centered his talks around Angels. It went well with the book, and I remember something he said he heard while in the seminary. One of his instructors made a point while starting a talk that (paraphrasing) Angels are not our friends by definition, but spiritual allies… you have to share the same nature to be a friend. An interesting thought worth pondering. If you haven't read the book mentioned above, it is a quite good. It broadened my understanding of the relationship between God and mankind, and how it changed from the Old to the New Testament.

I finished this sketch in my notebook last night. It's colored pencil with an acrylic/watercolor wash.

Mural at Holy Spirit Church in Evansville, IN

2012-01-04T01:30:00.004-05:00

The week before Christmas I helped paint a mural in Evansville, Indiana at Holy Spirit church on the rear wall. The pace was quite intense, but very fun. The painting is acrylic with gold stenciling and wood trim. There are more pictures and information about the steps we took on my blog: http://gwynethholston.com/sacred-art-blog/

Coat of Arms of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Peter

2012-01-02T15:07:00.004-05:00

I had the incredible honour of contributing to the design development and doing the final design of the coat of arms of the U.S. Anglican Ordinariate, which was officially announced yesterday as the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Peter under the Protection of Our Lady of Walsingham.

You can learn more about it here.

Christmas Painting

2011-12-28T13:03:00.000-05:00

This was actually an acrylic painting that I finished last Christmas. I didn't think to share it until just now. Merry Christmas!

Annunciation to the Shepherds

2011-12-28T10:17:00.003-05:00

Black ink on paper. 5" x 7".

Out Little Boy by Jason Tako

2011-12-26T21:21:00.001-05:00

This was my Christmas gift for my wife. It is our son doing what he does best, having fun with the simple things in life. In this case he was digging in some gravel when we were parked on a back-road in Minnesota while I painted. 11"x14", oil on panel. www.jasontako.com

2011-12-26T13:47:00.002-05:00

How thrilling to see so many artists linking their talents to their faith. So much inspiration! Thank you for beautifying the world through your gifts!

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T21:36:00.001-05:00

As we are sharing Christmas images, this is from a body of work in progress for LTP.

I had hoped to get actual cards printed this year but didn't quite make it, I have the design posted here.

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas with loved ones and my prayers for a joyful Christmas to all Smallpaxers.

God Bless

Merry Christmas

2011-12-24T12:00:00.000-05:00

My wife loves to write actual-non-email-stamp-n-envelope letters to a lot of friends. She sends out several letters a week. So, I decided to create liturgical stationery for her. The above image, as you might guess, is for the Christmas season.

My Christmas card this year is here. I was hoping to paint it in egg tempera, but ran out of time, so just colored the rough sketch. It probably is more lively this way anyway. Maybe I'll finish it for next year's card. (maybe I'll procrastinate until it's too late next year as well. :)

Merry Christmas to everyone in the guild, thanks for all of your wonderful posts.

Prairie Wetland in Autumn by Jason Tako

2011-12-22T19:08:00.003-05:00

This painting was inspired by the wetlands in Minnesota that I lived around as a child. I did the field study for this painting this last October, early in the morning when the sunlight bathed the golden grasses in a very warm light. I recomposed the scene both for a challenge, and to show the expanse of the prairie wetland areas in this region.
Prairie Wetland in Autumn by Jason Tako
11x14, oil on linen panel
www.jasontako.com

Merry Christmas, again!

2011-12-20T14:20:00.002-05:00

Anthony's post gave me the idea to post my drawing of the Baby Jesus, done thanks to Regina Doman's sharing of her son Caleb's photo.

Merry Christmas

2011-12-12T09:18:00.000-05:00

I've been meaning to post this drawing for two years now. I figured the closer we get to Christmas the busier everyone will be so, Merry Christmas!

RELIC

2011-12-09T18:29:00.001-05:00

This is a little something me and my brother are working on, let me know what you think?

TONSURE of ST. PETER

2011-12-01T10:03:00.002-05:00

This drawing depicts an event described in the Golden Legend, in which the pagans of Antioch mocked St. Peter by forcibly shaving the top of his head. Followers of St. Peter shaved their heads in imitation, turning a mark of shame into a mark of honor and originating the tradition of clerical tonsure. Surrounding this central scene are several events associated with tonsure in mediaeval exegetical texts: St. Paul cutting off his hair at Cenchrea; Ezekiel shearing, dividing, burning, chopping and scattering his hair to prophecy the destruction of Jerusalem; and Christ wearing the Crown of Thorns.

It was commissioned to commemorate the tonsuring of a class of seminarians of the Priestly Fraternity of St. Peter this past October. A signed, framed giclée print of the drawing was gifted from the class to Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, who celebrated the ceremony.

The drawing was done on goatskin. I scanned it at two stages; the above scan was made to prepare giclée prints. These prints are available for sale for $80 each. Each is signed and measures 8" x 12".

The below scan was made after I added gold and palladium leaf to the original.

www.danielmitsui.com