Dysfunction Junction

I created this illustration recently for Louisville Magazine, and it's finally out on newsstands! The art director requested I use my "sketchbook style" which she discovered via my newly redesigned website, www.catscott.com. I'm really glad she suggested it - I thought the grittiness and messiness of the line work really worked well with the story, which was about Louisville's Spaghetti Junction and what a mess it has become. They're currently thinking about upping the concrete to 24 lanes - how completely ludicrous is that? By 2080 Louisville will become a tangled mess of freeways. I tend to side with the grassroots movement 8664 which seeks to replace the highways with tree lined boulevards and parks. We'll see what happens!

Here's the spread in the magazine with the art director's typesetting over my illo. It was kind of hard to leave space when you don't really know what's going to happen there. Now that I see the final, I think I should have done a wash over the "reserved space" but I didn't know how that would interfere with her typography.



Detail of the drawing. I used a Hi-Tec C blue pen and then did washes over the drawing with Acrylic mixed with Gac 100.



I just got another assignment from the folks at LouMag, for which I am always thankful.

Thanks for reading, and have a happy and safe 4th of July!

Sierra Nevada - finally!

Posted over on the 99 paintings of Beer blog!

Tuesday Coolsday

Trying something new: Cool finds from working the google reader on the internet machine.

Cool Collection: Best Custom Lettering of 2009 (so far)
This work from around the web is simply amazing. It inspires me in a big way, but also makes me want to bury my moleskin where no one will ever see it. I'll get there. {via Design Observer}

Cool Dude: Paul Heaston
I simply cannot get enough of this guy's sketchbooks. I actually have a crush on one drawing specifically (sorry, Jason). I highly recommend subscribing to his blog. {originally discovered via Lines and Colors}

Cool Write-Up: David Apatoff on the Illustration Academy
Having attended the Illustration Academy and spent 7 grueling weeks day-in and day-out with these people, I have to say I'm biased. So I'm always happy when an outsider sees what the fuss is all about and gives the IA gang the recognition they deserve. {via Illustration Art}

Cool Friend: Erika Steiskal's penguins
Erika is a roommate from aforementioned Illustration Academy so we have a special bond that will keep us close for a lifetime. She just recently entered the freelance world and started working on a children's book about penguins. She's such a dedicated artist - she made little penguin sculptures! A LOT of them! Just so she could have accurate lit reference photos! Impressive. Also look for her sketchbook stuff and an almost-complete Bernanke illustration.

That's it! Tune in next Tuesday for more coolness.

Oh the Weather Outside...

I have slacked on the blogging because My Biggest Fan had a birthday this week. My free time was spent showering him with love, attention, and PRESENTS. One gift was a t-shirt that I designed with a movie quote from Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

If you haven't seen the flick, you are probably thinking, "Wow, she butchered that Christmas song," and/or "Why is she illustrating Christmas songs in June?" To give you some context, the character who utters these ridiculous words is played by the hilarious (and easy-on-the-eyes) Paul Rudd. He's a free spirited surf instructor who may have burnt out a brain cell or ten. The weather outside, well, it's just weather!

Now go see the movie. Go! Now! Put it in your queue! Get it from a RedBox! Go to Blockbuster! Wait, do they still have Blockbuster?

The shirt is available from Zazzle. Anyone know of another site I could submit the design to?

Also, what do we think of my new little link buttons on the side? I'm undecided. I like the idea but might try something else. Would love some feedback!

Be on the lookout for the new beer painting to be posted this week!

aloha

Santa Monica Pier

Another lunch break drawing adventure in my Moleskin.

This little gem was created during two 30 minute lunch breaks (for the on-site pen drawing) and a little bit of time with the acrylic paint and GAC 100 at home. I was watching "Intervention," a show on A&E, while I worked on this, and will now forever associate my drawing with a crack addict named Chad. Don't worry, he ultimately sought treatment and is now sober.

Similarly, I have a drawing of apples that I worked on while watching the 9/11 coverage; I can't look at the apples without being reminded of the details of that day. I'm sure it's normal to associate what you're drawing to whatever you're listening too; it's like I heard; "if you doodle, you remember more."

For fun, I thought I would share a nice aerial view of this drawing vantage point and scene:

Happy Father's Day

Views from the 16th Floor

My office is located on prime real estate in Santa Monica: Pacific Coast Highway and some sand separate us from the ocean. It's pretty ridiculous when you enter the main reception area: Floor to ceiling windows line the entire west (ocean) facing walls, and you see blue sea for miles (or just a mile, depending on the smog that day). The other sides of the building look out over the city - north to Malibu and Pacific Palisades, East towards Brentwood and Santa Monica (and on a clear day, towards Big Bear), and South towards Venice - and I find these views to be much more interesting. While waiting for a job to print in our production room, I grabbed a few scraps of paper and doodled some of those views and thought I would share them with you. This is another one that would be cool if I had paint on hand because the colors make a big difference. Maybe I should start bringing my gouache set to work :)

"Sunset in Malibu"; or "View From Parking Garage"

Leaving work last week, I was taken with the view northwest towards Malibu from the 9th floor of the parking garage in Santa Monica. So I sketched it. This has potential to be a pretty cool painting; but maybe just a small gouache one.

In other news, I started a Facebook Page for my biz. So now I have yet another site to keep updated! Woo hoo! Check it out here and become a fan! Cat Scott Illustration + Design

St. James Court Art Show Poster

Every fall, there is a huge, beautiful art festival in Old Louisville called the Saint James Court Art Show. Every spring, there is a competition for the poster for the event, and every year, I think, "I should enter." But I never do - not living in Louisville, I tend to forget about things like that. Earlier this week, while finishing an illustration for Louisville Magazine (coming soon to a newstand near you!), the poster contest popped in my head and I hopped over to google to check it out.

The due date was 3 days away. I took it as a sign.

I have been diligently plugging away at it ever since I sent off the final illo to LouMag. I ran into some technical difficulties though: How could I scan or photograph original artwork for a 24"x30" poster (I always work bigger than the final printed piece)? And if I were so lucky as to win, how would I get such a large piece to Louisville?

So I decided to tackle this project in Illustrator. I've been digging Jessica Hische's work lately, so my piece was very heavily influence by her, as well as various Victorian/Art Nouveau artwork I found online.

Doing the handwritten text was the best part. First I sketched it out with pencil:

Then I filled it in with ink:

Then I scanned it and used the AutoTrace feature in Illustrator to make it a vector shape. I hate doing that part because it never looks quite right to me. It lost a lot of character when it was forced into vectors.

Overall, I really like the way the poster turned out. I included the famous statue that is in the heart of Saint James Court and some of the beautiful Victorian homes that line the court, and embellished the design with the ever popular Fleur-de-lis.

This piece was a challenge for me stylistically, and it is a risky entry.. most of the past winners have been pretty paintings of the statue with some super kerned out text. Let's hope the gang at St. James Court likes my approach!

Busy Gato

I have been quite busy and will remain busy the rest of the week. Here's a small sketch to whet your appetite.