TAD : ATX POD Blog

Figure and composition.

2011-10-10T14:23:00.000-07:00

This is my second semester at TAD. Here are some assignments from figure and composition class.

Monsters and Robots

2011-10-04T23:10:00.000-07:00

Alright, I have yet to add a post onto the POD blog. My name is Alex Konstad, I love painting robots, monsters and all sorts of nonsensical imaginary creations. I'm 22 and currently rolling through the 2D entertainment major. Here are a few recent creatures and robots, there is much more on the blog!

Nate's First Update

2011-09-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

My name is Nate Abell and I love me some games and some concept art. Here are a select images from the last week and a link to my blog with many more goodies. Thanks for checking it out.

www.nateabell.com

2011-07-25T11:17:00.001-07:00

Sorry it has been so long since my last update. I got married and went on my honeymoon. Not to mention that somewhere in there I finished my finals for my second semester at TAD and I am currently in Kansas City attending the TAD summer workshop.

I am constantly looking for the big picture. That picture is where will I go with my art, how can I get there, and how can I ensure that I take care of my family. That's a lot to think about when I am still learning how to draw, paint and compose.

I'll let Michael Jordan make my point today

Michael is widely considered to be the greatest basketball player to ever play the game. The man worked everyday to become as good as he was and even when he was a professional, he failed. What made him the greatest is that he never gave up and never stopped trying to better his craft. I know it is a sports reference video but it applies directly to art. The struggle and road to become a professional artist is the same as the path to become a professional athlete.

So I write this because this video gives me the motivation to go out there and fail. Fail hard so that I can learn something. Have a goal in mind and to do whatever it takes to get there. To go out there with every intention of succeeding. I am not in this game to be mediocre.

Let's keep going. Let's keep climbing and embrace your faceplants. Get right back up again and laugh about it. Recognize what you learned by that failure and move on.

+++++

Here are bunch of drawings and paintings from the 2 months.

Thanks for looking,

-evan

follow me on twitter: Evan_Norman

July 18

2011-07-18T13:04:00.000-07:00

Small Update.

I have a ton of stuff to talk about and a ton of artwork to show, but I am super busy with the workshop so I will just show the piece I have been working on the past week.

The big post with lots of images will probably come in 2 weeks. I try to keep my blog fairly high quality and I am just throwing up a couple of images on my ca.org sketchbook. You can check that out to just see some art.

Click me for Images

2011-06-18T19:33:00.000-07:00

Some new pieces done near the end of the semester. Hope you enjoy them. You can see some of my past work at dentonwatts.blogspot.com

Enjoy your hopefully productive TAD summer, everyone! I've got a cast drawing/Bargue master-copy to finish, but I'm hoping to do lots of portrait painting over the break!

Vignette

2011-06-15T03:25:00.000-07:00

Feeling good with this vignette digital painting for Jason's Composition class, so posting it up.

2011-06-02T15:12:00.000-07:00

In my internet adventures I came across a video from Milton Glaser about the Fear of Failure.

http://vimeo.com/23285699 (weird that I can't embed the video in this blog)

Milton Glaser is the graphic designer that made the 'I Love New York' Logo. This video might apply to some people out there. Milton asks is it failing that you really are afraid of? or is it the criticism and embarrassment that follows. Are we afraid of being exposed because we don't know what we are doing??

He went on to say that it is the self criticism that comes with failure that is the subject of our fear. Afraid of being exposed and forced to acknowledge the fact that you are not a genius. Because we all know that geniuses don't fail. As people and artists, we are constantly praised for being amazing or geniuses. Most parents think that they child is the second coming of Michelangelo. But the truth is, you are not special and you are not a genius. Mike Lim (Daarken) had a blog post about his evolution as an artist and it took a long long time.

So, how do we conquer the Fear of Failure?? Embrace It. Embrace Failure. We learn through our failures. We reach mastery through loads of failure. One of the times that I met Android Jones he said that if he didn't fail in a piece it meant that he didn't learn anything and it would have just been an exercise.

Anyways. I thought the video was inspiring. Failure is a part of my everyday life here at TAD and it gets frustrating. I am not afraid of failing. I know where I am and where I want to be. I know the path that must be taken and I know it's hard. Failing doesn't get me down but I get myself down. I have a Fear of Not Being Good Enough. Not being good enough as a son, a fiance, a friend, and as a student.

+ + + + +

And of course here is some art work that I have done in the past couple of weeks. I had to stop attending the figure sessions at school because my wedding is at the end of the month and finals are due next week.

May 11 - What's Next?

2011-05-11T06:54:00.000-07:00

[normally i don't include my musings on the pod blog. exception today]

Do you guys know what happened on yesterday? It was the end of the 'Great Funk of 2011'. Yep, I officially got over my almost 2 week funk. I think it was finally conquered because I honestly just stopped caring. Stopped caring about how much I suck. I am in school to learn how to draw and paint and I am doing that right now. Now that my eyes are a bit more focused? I can ask myself these questions while having a smile on my face.

"What's Next?"
-more.

"Where am I going?"

-up.

Basically, as long as I breathe I will keep moving forward. Forward towards the future that Jena and I yearn for. To the people who read this blog, thank you for taking some interest in how my life unfolds. I hope your life is going as planned, and if it isn't. I hope it gets on track soon. Remember to ask some basic questions about where are you? and where do you want to be? Does question one lead to question two?

-------------

Oh, by the way. There are a few images. First is a painting from life that I did last night. It was my first time painting from a fixed timeframe or from a live model. Next is a oil painting study of He Kongde - A chinese painter. Last is a 45 minute study of an Adam Ford drawing.

Thank you,
-evan

ps. A pic of some of the antics that go on here at the POD

Francis Vallejo, Patrick Miller & Nate Abell (can you find nate?)

evan's update

2011-05-07T16:44:00.000-07:00

Here is some work from the past week. I hope you enjoy and once again. Thank you for looking at my blog. Be sure to visit [My Sketchbook] to see another 10 images that I didn't upload here

-evan norman

Taylor

2011-05-07T00:03:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone hope your doing great! Here is a 3 hour drawing from last figure session with Taylor and an experimental drawing with Wax, Nupastel, and cold wax. Hope you enjoy.

The Line-Up

2011-04-23T19:04:00.000-07:00

I've been doing some daily sketches to warm up each day and last week was a Batman themed week. Thought they turned out cool. Fun stuff

2011-04-21T14:10:00.001-07:00

Some more contours and nupastel drawings, thanks for lookin.

Getting our grub on

2011-04-11T12:11:00.000-07:00

This is everyone eating Jena's shrimp pasta after a great figure drawing session on Saturday.

April 2nd

2011-04-02T21:12:00.000-07:00

45 minute drawing from tonight.

Two more images over on my blog http://evan-norman.blogspot.com/

Thanks for looking,
-Evan Norman

Evan Norman

2011-03-31T22:58:00.000-07:00

TODAY HAS BEEN AMAZING!!!!!!!!! Seriously. I pulled a 15 hour day at the studio, but the best part of it was that I was in class with Marshall Vandruff for 6.5 hours of it and I was actually DRAWING for about 12 hours today.

I updated my Blog http://evan-norman.blogspot.com/ twice today and I updated my ca.org 3 times today.

Art. Friends. Music. Home.

Holy Shit. Welcome to the good life

Here is a figure drawing from tonight's session and two comic book pages I did today plus a still life that I painted on Tuesday.

Thanks for taking a peek

-Evan

Here is a bonus. The one and only Francis Vallejo and Patrick showing off his 'Oh' face over something that could be a Shakeweight... but isn't

Mega Update

2011-03-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

Hi fellow artists I just added some of my student and personal pieces to the good old blog, take a look around if you please and enjoy.

http://fernandosfreakshow.blogspot.com

Cheers everyone

Still Tippin

2011-03-11T01:58:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone, I'm Will Harris, another new term 1 student at TAD. I am keeping a blog about my school experience at: harrisart.wordpress.com

Here is a figure drawing from tonight (3/11/11) that I am really happy with:

Shameless Plug: My professional game development portfolio can be found at: wharris.wordpress.com

-Will

Introduction

2011-03-07T21:53:00.000-08:00

My name is Denton Watts, here are some of my favorite drawings/sketches done thus far in TAD:

If you want to see some more, my blog is: http://dentonwatts.blogspot.com/

been doing tons of contour'y sketches with woodless graphite and I'm falling in love with it. Show ya some next time.

Evan's Blog

2011-03-04T16:19:00.000-08:00

Hey guys,

I updated my blog and I thought I would post it here too.

Austin POD represent!!!

Check out my Sketchboook over on conceptart.org in order to see the entire update today.

Thanks for looking

-Evan Norman

Learning from the figure

2011-03-01T15:20:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of figure drawings done with the intention of learning different techniques.

So many things going on At the workshop!

2011-01-25T20:16:00.000-08:00

Just in a weekend there was about 7 demos on different things. George of course did half of them. lol. Figure, critiquing, taking notes, and working hard is what we are doing. Enjoy.

Arting it up in ATX

2011-01-20T15:57:00.000-08:00

Students and Orlando during the workshop discussing composition, color, and white ear buds.

Let the workshop begin!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-01-18T20:37:00.001-08:00

Dr. Sketchy's session in December with pearl lux as our model.

Brittany and Tyrone came by to practice their Acro-yoga routine in the studio and they let us draw them.

Studio leader Francis Vallejo's drawings

Francis Vallejo Drawn by Orlando

Brock cooper self portrait

Evan Norman

Brock cooper

Nate Abell

Evan Norman

Miles Wadsworth

Paul's oil painting in progress for the first week at the workshop

Sterling Hundley showing how to paint with gouache on a canvas.

Sterling's Demo

Sterling's second demo with gouache on canvas

Sterling's first demo discussing the way he approaches his assignments and portraits.

Nate Abell's portrait for the first weeks assignment.

Will hard at work getting Patrick Miller's likeness.

Sterling painting demo

Jane Radstrom Discussing her approach to figure drawing.

Brent Watkinson and Marshall Vandruff critiquing the first weeks assignments.

2011-01-06T18:21:00.000-08:00

2 hour Figure Drawing

2010-12-11T19:36:00.000-08:00

This is a 2 hour figure drawing from Saturdays session. 24"by36" Newsprint paper done in Nupastel Enjoy.

Dr. Sketchy's December session

2010-11-30T13:47:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone,

We have a great Dr. Sketchy's session lined up for this month on Sunday December 5th!

***Note for all: TAD will continue to have figure sessions through December except Christmas day of course.

Wizard con+Dr.Sketchy's+Open house+drawings

2010-11-17T21:51:00.000-08:00

The TAD ATX Open House!

Dr. Sketchy's the next day after the con!

Francis Vallejo Drawing at the Open house.

The large mass of people going into the TAD studio for the costume contest. Insane!

The lovely models Brittany and Samantha posing for us at the con.

Such incredible costumes designed by Jennifer Ayers.

This just cracks me up!

Drawing it up at the con!

Intensely drawing.

Dr. Sketchy's! with the wonderful Model Taffeta Darling.

Taffeta Darling looking for the winners!

Me with Rd-d2

Patrick and Rd-d2

The Crew showing there R&B hands!

2010-11-08T21:44:00.001-08:00

TAD official After party/costume contest for Wizard con.

2010-11-04T13:43:00.001-07:00

Working on our Figure skills

2010-11-02T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

Hope you all had a great weekend of fun. Here at the Austin pod we had some practice on doing gestures that where 1-3minutes long which helps in your drawing speed.

Art Outside Fun

2010-10-27T20:37:00.000-07:00

Evan Eboss creating his master pieces.

The very wonderful Model Brittney.

Here we see Phil doing his thing under neath one of the Workshop Tents.

There is everyone getting ready for the evening.

7am earlier then the birds get up. Phil and I were out there Painting the morning sun.

Early in the morning next to the awesome tesla coils that made music the night before.

Here you see Mr. Scott I can drive a 36 ft RV Richeson.

This was at the beginning of the trip and we were munching already.

Hey,

These are some of the photos from our adventures over at ArtOutside which was a Blast. I want to thank Agent Red for inviting us!

Studio space and landscape painting

2010-10-21T10:20:00.000-07:00

Here is a Gary Kelly original that we have in the studio. Amazing work!

This is an Edward Kinsella piece created for Rolling Stone magazine.

A couple of George Pratts!

And I have the extreme honor of hanging my work next to a Gary Kelly Painting!

This is a peak of the new studio space.

Here are some photos from going Landscape painting a couple blocks away from the studio.

Thanks For stopping by!

Art Outside

2010-10-13T17:37:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone,

TAD Austin Pod will be attending Art Outside October 22-24 at apache pass which is a 3 day camping trip. A very large event that is featuring over 300 artists including Dj Dojo who is going to be teaching Dj's at the studio! If you are going to Art Outside please come by to check out the work that will be hanging up which includes Gary kelly, Sterling Hundley, George Pratt and more.

Portrait drawings

2010-10-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Everyone,

These are some Portraits that are done as warm-ups for the day. Something to get you going before beginning what ever you have to work on that day. Some incredible news, we just received our shipment of very impressive (By impressive I mean living legends) artwork that is being hung at the TAD studio. I would recommend to stop on by and check out the work from Mark English, Gary Kelly, George Pratt, Robert Meganck, Ted Kinsella, Andrew Wright, and more.

Also if you didn't know Dr. Sketchy's is now being held at the TAD studio once a month. Dr. Sketchy's is a figure session with a burlesque model getting in poses while you have the oppurtunity to have a DRINK that you bring in yourself. For more information go to: www.drsketchy.com

Presenting Rick Repin our mascot

2010-08-28T16:50:00.000-07:00

Rick Repin

This is Monster another one of the family

Showing the students how its done

After Figure we do some Portraits outside for that extra practice.

Thank you for stopping by.

Cranking away!!!!

2010-08-20T13:48:00.000-07:00

Hello!

Here we see Pod leader Francis Vallejo showing the students mark making with brushes.

2 min

1 min

2 min

15 min

2 min

10 min

20 min

15 min

5 min

20 min

15 min

2 min

2min

10 min

15 min

20min

We've been known to break into RnB poses during breaks. Look out for our album dropping 2030 called T(he) A(mazing) D(raftsmen). Yezzir.

Hey everyone,

Here's a few figure drawings from this week's 12+ hours in front of the model. Regular crits and friendly competition keep everyone on the grind to improve each session! Great job guys!

Also if you are in Austin and would like to join us for some figure, come by on Saturdays from 2-5pm with six dollars, charcoal, and your sketch pad! Enjoy!

-TAD Austin

Figure drawings created in the studio and "Patrick's sketch"

2010-08-08T12:02:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone,

The past few figure sessions have been great. Come on out on Saturday 2pm-5pm at 500 east fifth street downtown Austin look for the red door. Join us. I have to say that all this figure drawing is allowing the students to create better pieces every week. Leaps and bounds for each individuals skill set! Lets keep it moving! Thank you for stopping by. Plenty more to come...

Pod leader Francis Vallejo and resident artist Orlando Sanchez give a demo

2010-08-01T14:23:00.000-07:00

The above illustrates two different approaches using the same reference photo from Francis' archive. Vallejo demonstrated a more linear method with his pen and ink technique (using Gillott 303 pen nibs, sumi ink, and sable brushes). Orlando took a more shape oriented route using Holbiens acrylic gouache along with similar sable brushes. It was a good Sunday afternoon.

The students are working hard on their first full illustration assignment. Energy is high and the work is piling up!!!!

Saturday Figure and downtown coffee sketching

2010-08-01T14:09:00.000-07:00

I would like to thank Ayers fromayersdesign.com for her great costume.

It is great to go downtown in Austin and draw, there are so many people with interesting gestures!

Week 3 at the ATX POD!

2010-07-28T20:17:00.001-07:00

Join us for Saturday Figure Drawing sessions from 2-5pm!

ATX POD Peek and Figure Drawing!

2010-07-18T19:15:00.000-07:00

Here is a peek into the goings on here at the Austin POD. Lots of hard work and good times here with Monster as our mascot! Also a shot from the fireworks on Congress on the 4th of July. The screens in our digital gallery will have thousands of images pumping directly from TAD, Conceptart.org and MB.

We want to invite the local Austin community to come out to the POD every Saturday for open figure drawing! The session runs from 2pm-5pm and the cost is 6 dollars. Come on down!

Pictures from the KC Workshop!

2010-07-08T17:26:00.000-07:00

The one and only George Pratt has just uploaded a bunch of great images from the recent TAD Workshop in Kansas City. The event had demonstrations from such greats as:

Gary Kelley
Terry Brown
Brad Rigney
Mark English
John English
Marshall Vandruff
Brent Watkinson
George Pratt
Jason Manley
Anita Kunz
C.F.Payne
Sterling Hundley
Francis Vallejo
Trey Bryan
Jane Radstrom
Jon Foster
Andrew Jones

Students participated for 3 weeks and worked hands on with this amazing list of instructors. Now, with everyone inspired, it's off to the PODs for more intense work and study! It all begins on Monday!

Here are some of George's shots:

To see the all of the images posted from the KC Workshop, check out the thread:

http://conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=190957

TAD Internship Program: Massive Black

2010-07-08T17:11:00.000-07:00

As the days go on there will be more great news coming about TAD and the opportunities which will come to the students in the program.

I have spoken at length with Massive Black's new President and my partner Chris Hatala and he has confirmed that MB will be participating in TAD's internship training and career opportunities program. Over the years a number of artists have gone through MB's internship program including stars like Jason Chan, Kemp Remillard, James Kei, Whit Brachna, Sam Brown and more...

Over the course of TAD's education, we are going to be supplying very unique opportunities in conjunction with the leading entertainment and art studios in their fields. When I went to school, I wanted to go where they offered Disney internships. TAD understands that opportunities for students are a big part of why people attend school and there will be a host of these announced in the coming year.

Thanks to Chris for his assistance in setting this up and I look forward to continuing to see TAD students reach their dreams.

Jason Manley

TAD Instructor Update: Kevin Chen

2010-07-08T16:53:00.000-07:00

TAD is proud to announce that the founder of the Concept Design Academy and leading entertainment industry concept artists Kevin Chen will be joining TAD to assist students in learning in a number of key areas related to Fine Art, Concept Art, and Illustration. I consider Kevin to be the finest teacher of art in Los Angeles. With Marshall in Orange County and Ron Lemen in San Diego, and the POD in SF, the Golden State is well represented. Kevin is a teacher by blood and his heart has always been in education and helping students. This, combined with his stellar resume and portfolio are why it is more than an honor to have him with us. Welcome Kevin Chen. I know all the TAD instructors are excited to have your help too.

First, I shall start by posting this great thread right here on CA with a bunch of Kevin's figure demos. These are done IN CLASS:
http://www.conceptart.org/forums/showthread.php?t=1432

And here are some of his works:

and if the work did not speak for itself, check this out:

As there are some changes to the TAD instructors list over time, we want to be sure that all TAD students understand that TAD is committed to having the finest educators and education of any in the world of art. Thank you Kevin for your help and we all look forward to working with you!

Jason Manley
President
TAD

Graydon Parrish: Art Department Instructor Addition

2010-07-07T10:27:00.000-07:00

The Art Department welcomes world class artist and the foremost expert on Munsell Color Theory, Graydon Parrish to TAD. Graydon is also and expert on the art of William Bouguereau and Jean Leon Gerome. He will begin with TAD this semester with lectures and presentations in Color Theory and Composition and will be assisting in Light and Form as well. We will be doing a live streaming class this coming fall as well. Graydon's bio and images are below. I grabbed a hand full off the net and he is sending me some others to share with you all. I can tell you from first hand experience that he is the most knowledgable color theorists I have ever crossed paths with. With Graydon joining us, the Austin POD can be a central hub of color study in art education as we go and we are very lucky to have him assisting us with the teaching of TAD students in these classes. Without further comment, here are the pics and info you need to see:

Early in life Graydon Parrish realized he wanted to be an artist, and while a senior in high school, he was one of the few students accepted to the Dallas Arts Magnet School. Yearning to paint artworks inspired by the classical past, it was not long before Parrish was studying in the New York Atelier of Michael Aviano and later the Richard Lack Atelier in Minneapolis: both considered exemplars of classical art. Today, Parrish's work can be found in the New Britain Museum of American Art, Tyler Museum of Art, Mead Museum of Art, and private collections throughout the United States and Europe.

But it was never an easy road for Parrish-as it is for few artists working in classic principles of art. "Training for representational painting, which includes both realism and classicism, was nearly nonexistent when I was an art student," says Parrish. "There were few options so it was all the more miraculous that I found Michael Aviano, who not only trained painters but was a master of classical painting in his own right, doggedly preserving a vital tradition."

It is not only his fanatical study of technique that separates him from other classical artists, but also his deep understanding of the art-historical periods in which his favorite artists such as William Bouguereau lived. For instance, Parrish worked for many months as an art-historical researcher for the forthcoming William Bouguereau Catalog Raisonne and for years on the Jean Leon Gerome Catalog Raisonne. Most recently, he worked under art historian Gerald Ackerman as a research assistant and editor of the recently published Charles Barque Drawing Course, a complete course dedicated to nineteenth-century Academic drawing practice written by two of the French Academy's greatest advocates: Charles Barque and Jean Leon Gerome.

In each of these incredible research opportunities, Parrish not only studied the artist's technique through their own drawings and paintings, but also the history of their times, including: business practices, philosophies of art, criticism, biographical information, and how they were received by their contemporaries.

As Parrish notes: "Only through the most arduous study can one create art. Each picture I paint is based on thorough research in the science of light, form, and technique as well as the study of the old masters-and their history. My education, therefore, has been idiosyncratic. Unable to find complete training available to the old masters, I have orchestrated my own program of learing, combining quality academics with the guidance of present-day old masters."

Welcome to TAD Graydon, it is an honor.

Check out his site and twitter for more info:

www.graydonparrish.com
http://twitter.com/barque

Welcome to the Austin POD!

2010-07-05T14:08:00.001-07:00

What is The Art Department?

Created by the founders of the award winning Illustration Academy and leading art education portalConceptart.org, The Art Department (TAD) provides real world training by top industry professionals to help artists build successful careers in Illustration, Entertainment Design, and Drawing and Painting.

As the next generation model for art education, TAD’s goal is to transform education from traditional classroom learning to real world training from some of the most successful artists practicing in the industry today. TAD faculty bring dedication, passion and understanding to teaching that is focused on doing whatever it takes, for however long it takes, to help students develop into the best artists they can be and create a portfolio that is going to land them jobs. Through TAD's online community and international workshops, students also have an opportunity to network with hundreds of potential employers while in school.

At TAD you will:

Train with the best industry professionals in Illustration, Entertainment Design, and Drawing and Painting
Develop your abilities and unique talents at a higher skill level · Learn how to apply your skills in real world industry settings, promote yourself, negotiate deals, and get jobs.
Create connections with industry professionals and potential employers
Know how to make a career out of doing what you love, while developing your vision, ideas, and dreams.

Majors:

Drawing and Painting
Illustration
Entertainment Design
First year of study for all majors is Foundations

Length of Program: 30 months

Three ways to study:
Exclusively online
In-person at one of TAD’s studio locations, called PODs
Combination of both online and in-person TAD Studio

Locations (PODs):

San Francisco, CA
Austin, TX
Kansas City, MO
Richmond VA

TAD’s Award Winning Faculty:

Mark English
John English
Andrew Jones
Gary Kelley
Carl Dobsky
George Pratt
Anita Kunz
Sterling Hundley
Jason Manley
C.F. Payne
Brent Watkinson
Marshall Vandruff
Ron Lemen
Jon Foster and more!