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Yesterday I visited University of the Arts in Philadelphia for the second time. The first time was in the winter of 2010, right on the eve of the historic snowstorm. I was delighted to return with all new lectures, and to meet a whole new group of students.
The head of the illustration program is illustrator and graphic designer, Mark Tocchet, who created the award-winning digital painting “Lover’s Pass,” above.
Here I am with Mark (and a reference skeleton) from the last visit.
Over the years, the school’s illustration program has been led by legendary instructors, such as Ben Eisenstadt (1906-1996) and Henry C. Pitz (1895-1976). The celebrated graduates have included Richard Amsel, Jerry Pinkney, and the Berenstains, creators of the Berenstain Bears.
The illustration program has been ranked among the top three in the nation by US News and World Report.
In between my lectures on color and composition, I did a twenty-minute portrait of Mark with water-soluble colored pencils, while he and the students watched the projected image on the screen.
Thanks, UArts, and keep up the great work.
University of the Arts, Philadelphia
Mark Tocchet's website
13 comments:
Great portrait Jim. I really like this one!
Yes, I too thoroughly enjoy all your watercolor sketches. If that was all that was shown here it would be enough for frequent visits.
And the idea monster from an earlier post... what fun!
20 minutes only… What a result!! Impressive!
Twenty minutes, preceded by decades of practice.
James, when you do these projected portraits, it would be so great if somebody was recording the whole event so you could share them with us. Does that ever happen?
Thanks, everybody. Ernest, I'd be happy to share a video, but I want to do one where it's shot from a fixed copy stand angle (rather than obliquely) and properly miked. Until I have the right setup, I've asked the venues where I've done demos to just project and not record or distribute.
Wow you did that in 20 minutes! I'm impressed. The guy looks very intense and interesting. Beautiful and intriguing picture.
Nice! I haven't seen Mr Tocchet in a long long time, but that's him alright!
It was a great presentation James. I'm very glad Dom and I were there to see it and it was nice seeing you and Jeanette again!
I went to MICA - graduated ten years ago. Looking forward to seeing pictures from your lecture there - I hope you are well-attended and well received!
Thank you so much for coming to MICA and for signing my book. Turns out the talk was public after all! I'm glad they let alumni in!
And this is that credit card reader for iPhone and Android! https://squareup.com/
James is a mench, two talks and a demo and not a break in between. Both the talks were great and the demo was a joy to watch. I know it's harder than James made it look, and he talked the whole time describing his process. It was a great day for the students and one I'm sure they will long remember, for those interested I blogged about it on my blog, great job, thanks again James!
It would be lovely to see a video of your water-soluble coloured pencils technique.
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