Tuesday, July 7, 2009

McLean's Mentoring!!!

So over at the conceptart.org website, they have an entire forum devoted to students connecting to volunteer "mentors." The learning process has always been something I've found kind of interesting, I feel like all throughout my career as a student I've paid as much attention to how the instructors demonstrate ideas as the ideas themselves.

Well, I've always wanted to get one of those threads underway, and now I have. I've got 3 guys who are taking the plunge and putting their trust in me this summer. The goal of the class is to arrive at a single finished illustration with a strong composition and color palette. The road there includes lots of thumbnails, value studies, and color studies before we ever start on a final. If you'd like to follow along, you can do so by clicking here. If the class goes well, I think I will make it an ongoing program, with a summer class, an autumn class, and a spring class.

Also, I am going to jump in and do a piece with the class myself, but shhhh! Don't tell them, its a secret for right now. Why should those guys have all the fun, right? Below is a thumbnail I am considering.


Its an image of a Nacatl from Magic: The Gathering. Because hey, who doesn't want to paint a Magic card? It couldn't hurt to tackle some of the Magic subject matter head-on. I also didn't want to get too complicated with narrative in this image, because it seems like most Magic cards are very direct in whats going on. He's making a "quick retreat." Simple enough, right? I also like that he takes up a lot of space in the picture, most of the things I do are figures with a very "safe" amount of negative space around them. The Magic cards hafta pack a lot of punch at a small scale, and that means you gotta get a little more bold with your cropping decisions! At least it seems so.

Also: My freelance schedule is opening up here pretty soon, so to any of you art directors out there, feel free to show me some love. ;)

Until next time, dear readers!

4 comments:

Charles Valsechi said...

Just curious, but have you been over to artorder.blogspot.com and dropped your portfolio to him?

Jordie Bellaire said...

I think it'll be a nice piece. All the hair detail you'll paint on there and some nice lighting setups could be gorgeous.
Good luck, mon frere!

TREY BRYAN said...

cool Mclean,

sounds like everything is well- the internet class is a great idea- goodluckk with all.

-Trey B.

McLean Kendree said...

Charles - I sure have, I'm hoping to make a blog post about it next month...!

Thanks guys!