Illustration Master Class

In 2010 I attended the Illustration Master Class in Amherst Massachusetts. It was a pretty daunting experience to undertake, but my good friend Jonny Duddle had been the year before and recommended it. Run by Rebecca Guay, it includes a core faculty of Rebecca, Dan dos Santos, Greg Manchess, Donato Giancola, Scott Fischer, Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell and Irene Gallo. There are a number of other artists who visit including James Gurney, Peter de Seve, Brom, Mike Mignola and Iain McCaig plus many others and all teach!

For one week there are lectures and each student works on one of the assignments or a piece of their own. There are no hard and fast rules, just lots of information. Whether you're a student, a beginner or a seasoned pro, there is MUCH you can take away from IMC merely by attending. I haven't managed to finish a piece yet, and I've been three times. 2010, 2011 and this year. Each time though, I choose to work in a medium with which I struggle and that tends to be oils. I have now done three oil paintings, all at IMC, and each one is a bit better than the last. (THIS was one of them)

So perhaps I'll go back again next year. Perhaps I'll go with less expectation of finishing something, but the chances are I'll use it to push myself away from some of the techniques I am comfortable with, and just remember that doing that which you don't normally try is how we grow. Anyway, this was the portrait I did. Nothing like the subject, but I changed it into an exercise anyway, and also a pencil sketch I did one evening of Titania. I also include the linework for the image I wanted to do at IMC, but sometimes our eyes are bigger than our stomachs...