Marc Scheff

Marc Scheff is an illustrator whose work has appeared in publications and software including Spectrum, ImagineFX, Corel Painter 11 & 12, The Gorilla Art Fare Art Book, and more. Marc recently co-founded Awesome Horse Studios, the free livestream demo/crit channel. He has also spent the last few years making pretty things at game shops like EA and Gameloft. See and learn more at: www.marcscheff.com

Michael Byers

Michael Byers is a freelance illustrator living in Guelph, Ontario with his fiance and two cats. He spends most of his time in his studio creating whimsical images for editorial and advertising clients. He loves to draw, drink coffee, and collaborate with other illustrators, art directors, art buyers, and anyone else who loves to create. – michaelbyers.ca

Thanks to Marc and Michael for joining the team!

I’m very excited to announce that the EFII Network (Escape from Illustration Island, Illustration Age, etc.) is taking the first steps towards being a group-run effort. I’m not only relieved to share the reins after more than 2 years of running the show almost entirely by myself, but also eager and grateful for the chance to welcome some new perspectives to our growing network of resources for Illustrators.

The best part is, this move will help to ensure the EFII Network as a sustainable source of inspiration for years to come.

Here’s a look at the current EFII crew:

Thomas James – Editor/Creative Director

Thomas James is an Illustrator whose work has appeared  in The Los Angeles Times, Seven Days, The City Paper, The Chicago Reader, The Portland Mercury, and many others, and has been recognized by American Illustration. He is also the Editor/Art Director of the popular Illustration website and podcast, Escape from Illustration Island, and is proud to serve on the Board of Directors for the ICON Illustration Conference.

Kelly Weed Stanley – Assistant Editor

Kelly is a freelance Illustrator whose work has been recognized by the Society of Illustrators and showcased in a number of galleries around Utah. Some of Kelly’s current clients are the stores Flora and Crafty Wonderland in Portland, Oregon.

Marjolein Caljouw – Assistant Editor

Marjolein Caljouw is an illustrator/artist. She helps people who need illustrations for magazines, books, apps, etc. but also makes (wall)paintings with acrylics and oilpaint. Visit her website here: http://www.marjoleincaljouw.nl/

Mark Kaufman – Assistant Editor

Long story short. Mark Kaufman is a partner at Vivitiv, an issue oriented design firm based in Seattle. His illustrations have appeared in publications nationwide including The New York Times, The Progressive, The Stranger, and The Oxford American. – drawmark.com

Thanks to these fine folks for helping to make the EFII Network a reliable (and growing) resource, and thanks to YOU, our fellow artists for your continued support and for giving us plenty of reasons to keep this thing going.

Cheers,
Thomas James

ICON is pleased to announce the dates and location of the 7th International Illustration Conference! Mark your calendars and join us for the premiere Illustration event of the year. 

As many of you know, Escape from Illustration Island traveled to last year’s ICON6 Illustration Conference to bring you lots of great audio and video coverage of the event, which you can still enjoy here.

One fantastic result of that adventure was that EFII’s Editor, Thomas James, is fortunate to be serving on the board of directors for ICON7. Things have been happening behind the scenes, and we’ve been eager to share some of the details of next year’s event.

The good news is, the dates and location for ICON7 have been officially announced:

June 13-16, 2012
Renaissance Hotel
Providence, Rhode Island

For registration, speaker updates, and other juicy tidbits, go here.

Stay up-to-date with future Illustration resources via email, Facebook, and Twitter.

We’re very excited to announce that the critically-acclaimed eBook and Audiobook, 15 Steps to Freelance Illustration, has already been downloaded over 1,000 times by Illustrators from all over the world since its release last June.

More than that, we love hearing from artists all the time who are actually putting the steps to use, which is what it’s really all about. Keep the feedback coming!

Thanks again for all the enthusiasm and support from our fellow artists.

Want your copy?

Click here for more information about the resource that Artist Representative Scott Hull calls “a self-educational tool that will earn you a future”.

More reviews of 15 Steps:

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“I think your e-Book is another great tool you are providing the artist who is interested in Illustration.  You are giving the budding Illustrator all the information he or she needs to become a professional.  It’s a tough business right now, and people need all the help they can get in the way of information.”

- Anthony Freda – Illustrator, Lecturer, and Graduate Mentor
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“I am going to require it for my Illustration students at FIT this fall. Having the process broken down, like your book, is a great step to really embracing it all.”

- Melanie Reim – Chair, MFA in Illustration, FIT

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Click for more info >>

Are you an Illustrator, Graphic Designer, or Photographer struggling to adapt to an ever-changing marketplace?

If so, I’m excited to announce that I’ll be giving a presentation at the Seattle Graphic Artists Guild on March 30th called Future Strategies for Creative Professionals.

In this talk, I’ll be discussing new ways to think about your business and position yourself for success in the future, through adaptability, entrepreneurship, and many more approaches that will make it easier and more rewarding to make a living as a professional artist.

If you’re in or near the Seattle area, you can find out more information and sign up here.

See you there!

Related Posts:

• What’s Wrong With Your Illustration Business?
• The Easiest Way to Determine Which Form of Promotion Works
• 7 Time Management Strategies That Work
• Stop Consuming, Start Producing

Stay up-to-date with future Illustration resources via email, Facebook, and Twitter.

That’s right folks! It’s giveaway time again here at Escape from Illustration Island.  

This time around, the fine folks at Big New Ideas have generously donated 2 copies of their latest poster by artist JooHee Yoon, as part of their 1200 Posters project. I scooped up a copy of their last poster by Victo Ngai, and the print quality was top notch.

How To Enter

Simply post a message in the comments section of this post letting us know that you’d like to be entered by Sunday, Feb. 13th at midnight EST.

2 lucky winners will be selected at random and announced the following Monday, Feb. 14th.

Good luck, and thanks to Aaron Perry-Zucker and the rest of the gang at Big New Ideas for making this happen.

Over the weekend, I met with 10 of my fellow members of the Board of Directors for the ICON7 Illustration Conference in an undisclosed location to make plans for next year’s event.

The experience was wonderful, fulfilling, exhausting, inspiring, and rewarding in more ways than I could ever articulate.

During this intense weekend of hard work, I was reminded of 3 things that are important for all Illustrators to keep in mind:  

1. Illustrators Are Awesome.

Any Illustrator who interacts with their fellow artists or participates in the larger Illustration community knows that our industry includes many incredibly generous, kind, and creative people. The ICON7 Board is certainly no exception. I am extremely fortunate to be a part of this group who is working so hard to make the next conference a success, while also striving to ensure the sustainability of such an invaluable resource for creative professionals. I had met some of the Board members before, and some I was introduced to for the first time, and each one of them is a wonderful person that feels strongly about contributing to our industry. I know of very few other fields where you will find people like that.

2. I Don’t Know Shit.

I spent a lot of time in our “off” hours listening closely and soaking up everything I could from my fellow Illustrators and Art Directors who have many more years of experience than me. It can be so easy to get caught up in your own bubble of daily work and forget how much you can gain from the insight of others, but I was reminded of the gaps in my knowledge as I listened to the stories that circulated around the breakfast, lunch, and dinner tables. This experience alone was worth the trip.

3. Giving Back to the Industry Gives Back to You.

Even though we all spent more than 2 entire days brainstorming, strategizing, and designing the next ICON conference, and even though I ended up with a bad case of fatique and a severe headache, I gained so much from the sheer act of contributing what I can to the industry of Illustration. There are so many ways to give back, both big and small, and the side effect of selfless service is indescribable, so I won’t even try.

It’s funny how an experience like this can remind you of certain things that you already knew, and I’m grateful for that.

Needless to say, we’re all very excited about the upcoming ICON7 Illustration Conference, and there’s a lot more news to come in the future. If you’d like to keep up with future updates, be sure to follow ICON7 on Twitter and Facebook so you don’t miss out on all of the exciting developments.

If you want to take a look back at some of the highlights of last year’s ICON6, go here.

Related Posts:

• How to Make the Most of the Online Art Community
• 10 Online Creatives to Watch in 2011
• 150 Useful Resources for Illustrators
• 15 Thriving Online Art Communities
• Artists Unite to Protest Online Art Theft

Stay up-to-date with future Illustration resources via email, Facebook, and Twitter.

Last week, I announced EFII’s latest giveaway, ‘Vector Basic Training’ by Von Glitschka.  

After 166 entries, I’m excited to announce the following lucky winner:

Melissa Arandia

I’ll be in touch with Melissa to get her mailing address!

Thanks again to Von Glitschka for making this giveaway possible, and to the 166 artists who participated. Stay tuned for the next giveaway here at Escape from Illustration Island.

Related Posts:

• EFII Podcast Episode 4 – Von Glitschka
• Vector Build Methods by Von Glitschka
  
• Creating Line Drawings in Adobe Illustrator
  
• Creating Color Separations for Screen Printing Using Illustrator
  
• Artito Bandito by Von Glitschka
• 10 Online Creatives to Watch in 2011

Stay up-to-date with future Illustration resources via email, Facebook, and Twitter.

Let me start you off with a visual: me, 8 AM, freshman year, first semester, sitting in a required art history class. Not exactly the most fun situation to be in. I guess that’s one of the good things about growing up; you learn to appreciate certain things more. For me, one of those things is art. I would give anything to go back to my freshman year and actually pay attention and learn in my art class, but unfortunately I can’t. However, it’s never too late to start appreciating new things, so I intend on putting a lot more art into my life. In the past year, between friends from school and friends from home, I’ve come to love art. A lot of this probably has to do with someone I met this summer who is truly a remarkable artist.

Meet Jen Krawiec, a local Sherrill resident who is most definitely an artist… and her stuff is GOOD. As I’ve gotten to know her throughout the summer, I’ve seen a lot of her work. She has paintings scattered around her apartment, in her staircase, and she even painted the flower beds outside of her apartment. Every time I go over, I find myself complimenting a new piece that she’s done. It’s all amazing. And apparently others think she’s good too because she’s starting to receive more local support and is working on getting her name known in the area (and hopefully elsewhere). Conveniently enough, there happens to be an extremely large and unoccupied building across the street from Jen’s apartment.  Jen is now currently in the process of moving her art over to the building and turning it into a gallery (and she is well on her way).

Where am I going with this post? I’m here to invite you to Jen’s first show at her art gallery this coming Saturday, August 7. The show, titled ‘My Life is Art and Art is My Life,” will take place from 6-10 PM in Building 41. This is located on 97 East Seneca Street in Sherrill, NY. The building is right across from Frank’s/the Pizzeria. Drinks (most likely wine and beer) and snacks (most likely pizza) will be provided throughout the evening. What sounds better than walking around and looking at great art while drinking wine and eating food?

So if you’re looking for something to do this Saturday evening, STOP BY! You can come at any time. Whether you want to drop in for ten minutes or stay for three hours, it’s up to you. Her pieces will be for sale (and vary in size and price). I’m also going to do a “review” of the show sometime next week as a blog post. Pictures will definitely be included so you can see some of Jen’s work. I would strongly recommend checking it out ; we should support our local artists and spread the word! GOOD LUCK JEN!!!

and here are the details again…

What: My Life is Art and Art is My Life (gallery opening)

Who: Jen Krawiec

Where: Building 41           

                 97 East Seneca Street

                Sherrill, NY

When: 6-10 PM

You got it hockey fans, the infamous brothers from the movie Slap Shot stopped by the store this morning, a special thanks to Dick at the Candy Corner and the Keeler Show for letting us in on the fun.

Kevin got the chance to have an authentic book autographed by the trio before they were taken off to their next publicity event.

Cover via Amazon