An Introduction

I can't remember exactly how I first found this blog-- I think it was because the amazing author Regina Doman linked to Ben Hatke who linked to this blog-- but I've been reading it for years. (I've followed many of the individual artists' blogs, too, but because I'm one of those silly people who constantly haunts blogs without ever commenting, you probably couldn't tell).

Basically, I was so overawed by all the wonderful artists that I never got up the gumption to join the Guild. That is, until one day when I realized that I was yet again being completely silly. Everyone has to start somewhere, right? And it's always best to start in the company of people who are talented, knowledgeable and faithful.

So, yes, HI EVERYONE! My name is Shaylynn Rackers. I am 18 years old, the eldest of six-soon-to-be-seven kids in an amazing family of engineers and mathematicians. My family always teases me and says that I am their little mutant because I love art so much. They are all very creative thinkers, but because they can only draw stick figures I've had to learn about artwork from books and obsessively analyzing everything I see. I can't wait for this fall, when I will be studying graphic design and illustration at college.

I don't have a favorite art technique or art "genre" because I love experimenting too much. I think that I am the most comfortable using pencil and charcoal, though.

This is a drawing I did in October for Treasures of Middle Earth: The Hobbit Design Contest. I wound up winning first place in the Weapons category and got seven prop replicas from LotR and the Hobbit! My siblings and I are huge Tolkien fans and we are still "geeking out" about this!

Recently I've been falling in love with pen drawings and attempting to learn watercolors. I did some sketching the day that Pope Francis was elected. It's very Catholic (obviously) so I'll share some here. The rest of this sketch series is on my blog.

I love calligraphy, painting, drawing-- you name it. Most of my art is inspired by my favorite fairytales and myths, but I do love to draw everything. There simply isn't enough time to draw all the ideas floating around inside my head!

(This quote by the wonderful G.K. Chesterton is one of the reasons why fairytales are so inspiring to me: "Fairytales are more than true, not because they tell us that dragons exist, but because they tell us that dragons can be beaten.")

watercolor, "The Birth of the Phoenix"

Another one of my favorite pastimes is making jewelry, which I sell online. I also do all the graphics for Ink and Fairydust, an online magazine "encouraging faith and creativity." We're on a bit of a slump right now but will hopefully release a new issue soon.

copper grecian-style headpiece

If you want to see more of my artwork, I do have a DeviantArt account which is sadly abandoned at the moment. I'm still trying to get the hang of it as I have time and would love to add fellow Catholic artists to my watch list-- just let me know your username! :)

My main site is my blog, Shealynn's Faerie Shoppe. I post some of my artwork, lots of craft tutorials, and many random, geeky, artsy things. I also have facebook and twitter.

 I'm thrilled to be a part of the Guild. Thanks for letting me introduce myself!

Happy Birthday Hobbits!

First, thanks to the Catholic Illustrator's Guild for my acceptance! That quite made my morning.

My name is Mary Sullivan, I am an artist/illustrator in the making (hopefully), and here is my blog. 

Yesterday, Sept. 22nd, was Mr. Bilbo and Frodo's birthday! A bit of celebration is called for. I myself found a bit of time to watch the Fellowship of the Ring, and draw a little before work. 

'You mean to go on with your plan then?
'I do. I made up my mind months ago, and I haven't changed it.'

It is based on this:

Inside Bag End, Bilbo and Gandalf were sitting at the open window of a small room  looking out west on to the garden. The late afternoon was bright and peaceful. The flowers glowed red and golden: snapdragons and sunflowers, and nasturtians trailing  over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows.
    'How bright your garden looks!' said Gandalf.
    'Yes," said Bilbo. 'I am very fond indeed of it, and of all the dear old Shire; but I think I need a holiday."
     'You mean to go on with your plan then?'
     'I do. I made up my mind months ago, and I haven't changed it.'
     'Very well. It is no good saying any more. Stick to you plan-- your whole plan, mind -- and I hope it will turn out for the best, for you, and for all of us.
    'I hope so. Anyway I mean to enjoy myself on Thursday, and have my little joke.'
    'Who will laugh, I wonder?' said Gandalf, shaking his head.  
    'We shall see,' said Bilbo.

Happy Belated Hobbit Day everyone!

Hello

I'm Mary, a university student who wants to be a professional illustrator someday. I've watched Smallpax for years, but never got up the nerve to ask to join. I submitted some art for the Gilbert magazine Call for Artists below, and at that Ted was kind enough to issue me an invitation. This picture is one of the ones I submitted.

It's very exciting to be here. I hope I will do myself credit. ^_^

hello

Hello, I'm Sophie and have watched this blog for some time now-and am finally joining. In addition to some religious art I enjoy illustrating nature...and am especially interested in greeting cards and children's books. Below are several examples of my work.

Introduction

I'm new to this blog, so I thought that I should write a formal introduction and tell you all a little bit about myself.  Like Tommy, I have recently been invited to join because I wanted to contribute to the Gilbert Magazine art contest, but I have also been admiring the work on this blog for a while now and am glad of the added motivation to finally join officially!  My name is Kelly and I am a freelance children's book illustrator currently earning an MFA in Illustration.  I graduated from University of Dallas in 2006 with a B.A. in painting.  Unfortunately, illustration was not offered as a major at UD, and so I have since been trying to immerse myself in the world of illustration to catch up on all of the many things I still have yet to learn about the business.

I was heavily influenced by Disney as a child, and a lot of the things that I draw for children still reflect that early obsession.  Consequently, I have two very distinct artistic styles: the realistic fine art that I did in college, and cartoon-like illustration.  My graduate school professors have told me to try and merge my ability to capture realism with my children's art, and so that is something that I am going to be working on this year.

Here are some examples of the kind of paintings I did while in undergrad (portraiture was my favorite):

And here are some samples of my more cute, animated style.  The first two are initial character designs that I did for children's books (one is about chickens and a sneaky fox, and the other was about grasshoppers).  The third is a character that I created in college for a children's literature class that I took through the education department.

Anyways, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm looking forward to participating in this blog.  I can tell from previous posts that the Illustrator's Guild is an extremely talented group of artists, and I'm thrilled to be a part of it! :-)

Introduction

Hello. I am new to this blog. My name is Michael.

I am not a professional artist, but I paint at night and on weekends. I began to paint because I like to imitate the objects I find in nature and to meditate on the truths of religion, but also simply because it pleases me to bring areas of color into harmony. For me, then, painting is first of all a way of celebrating and appropriating the world; this then gives me the material I need to produce works that are beautiful in their own right, as paintings.

I paint exclusively in watercolor and gouache, on hot-pressed watercolor paper or Claybord. I also do pencil drawings. My pictures these days are usually of (Catholic) religious subjects or insects. I take my chief inspiration from prints, drawings, and children's book illustrations. I would say that I am most influenced by Gothic painting, Durer's engravings and watercolors, William Blake's paintings and illustrations to Job, Samuel Palmer's Shoreham works, Japanese block prints, and Henri Rousseau's paintings. I have long cherished a desire to do a series of Bible illustrations, but these will have to be drawings, as I paint extremely slowly!

Entombment, 5" x 7", watercolor on kaolin clay ground, 2008 (inspired by meditations on Holy Saturday)

I have been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome, an autistic disorder, and I believe that this affects the way I paint in a number of ways. My pictures sometimes have a way of disintegrating into a mass of independent parts. I also get bogged down in meticulously rendering repetitive details (hairs, blades of grass, pebbles, &c). These are tendencies I am trying to work with.

I have been looking at this blog for some time now, and I am excited finally to be a part of it. I look forward to posting my pictures from time to time, to see what other people might think of them.

Mary, Mother of the Church, 10" x 14", watercolor and gouache on hot-pressed paper, 2006

Jesus is laid in the Tomb

Hi everyone. My name is Maggie Mayer. I am glad to have found this blog to see others beautiful liturgical artwork and have a chance to post some of my pieces.
This painting of the 14Th station of the Cross was painted last spring for an art show here in Georgia. I am looking forward to participating in this blog.

Feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola

July 31st is the Feast of Saint Ignatius Loyola! On a recent retreat, I worked out a little image in a style I'm still developing. Comments welcome!

Oh yeah, I'm new to this blog. My name is John Brown, S.J. and I've been a Jesuit for 8 years (still have about 3 to go before ordination to the priesthood). I run the http://www.companionofjesus.com/ website where I keep stuff on Ignatian/Jesuit spirituality etc...

First Post Here

Greetings to you all,

I have recently joined this group and wish to introduce myself. My name is David and I am a commercial graphic artist and 3D illustrator based in Australasia. I have been discerning a vocation or lay apostolate in icon writing and we are about to move to a new house (God willing) that will have the appropriate creative space where I can pursue this more purposefully. Up till now I have been painting icons using Photoshop and a Wacom Tablet and the above sample is a reproduction of Our Lady of Tenderness from the Solrunn Nes book that has been mentioned elsewhere. However in the process of painting icons this way I have come to realise that in order for the icon to be truly authentic it must be painted in traditional media. There are some very good theological reasons for this. Where we live there are no Schools of iconography so I'm pretty much going to have to teach myself along with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit.

I look forward to contributing to this sketch blog and I look forward to seeing your work and posts. I have very much enjoyed what I have seen already.

If you wish to see the kind of work I have done in the past go here 

Pax Christi,

David John

Hello and Intro

Hello I'm Ria, I'm a homeschooled highschool student, I also blog at Liber Parma and ChesterTeens and I love art. Art has always been one of my favorite pastimes but only recently I have started taking "real" art classes and have enjoyed them immensely (and look forward to more advanced classes next year). I am absolutely thrilled to be joining this blog! Thank you for letting a "student member" join. I have loved reading (and looking at) this blog in the past and find it rather hard to believe that I am posting on it now.

Although I am not satisfied with the majority of my artwork the examples you see below are two that I actually like.

This picture, of Father Karol Wojtyla, is done with a pencil, which is and has been for a long time just about my favorite medium. Recently I have been learning about and expirementing with acrylics and find them very enjoyable and easy to work with.

So thanks again for letting me join and I am very excited to post here more in the future.

By Way of Introduction

My name is Matthew Alderman, and you may know me or my work from my periodic appearances on my blogging home base, The Shrine of the Holy Whapping (don't ask, there's a long story behind the name) and my home-away-from-home at The New Liturgical Movement. I've been invited by Theodore to post my work from time to time, and I must say it is an honor to be able to post alongside the likes of Regina Doman and the rest of the Catholic Illustrators' Guild.


St. Irene, Virgin and Martyr. January 2006

I recently graduated from the School of Architecture at the University of Notre Dame, where I won the Rambusch Prize for Religious Architecture for my undergraduate thesis, and I currently live and work in Manhattan. I've begun to branch out into liturgical illustration on the side, recently completing my first paying commission, for the Knights of Columbus, in the form of seven pieces of line-art drawn specially for the misalettes that will accompany the masses at this year's national convention. I have also been commissioned to do a new logo for the Church Musicians' Association of America, and am always eager for more projects. I also enjoy, on my own time, devising hypothetical architectural projects and the occasional portrait as well, if I can slip in a little bit of symbolism under the surface.


A Hypothetical Counterproposal for Los Angeles Cathedral. August 2006.

I am an eclecticist at heart. I started out, when it comes to drawing, as a very literal imitator of the great Durer, and have grown to incorporate other influences, ranging from Jan van Eyck to Alfons Mucha and the engraved frontispieces of the 17th century, into what is slowly becoming my own personal style. In the end, it all returns, for me, to the careful balance of iconography and reality, the natural and the supernatural. Though I don't forget to have fun along the way!