Nancy @ drawger

Ode to Ordinariness
Posted by Nancy Stahl at 6:28 pm on September 29th

Peter Cusack, in addition to being a painter of beautiful images and sketchbook artist, is an art director for a book publisher. He gave me such freedom on this assignment that I found myself going off in a different direction and having a lot of fun.

My idea was to make a gift rise out of an ordinary landscape.

[Wow...! I just went to Peter's site to get the link above and found I had missed his watercolors from a trip to Positano. Beautiful.]

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Worried Obama for TNR
Posted by Nancy Stahl at 1:52 am on September 23rd

Blue Barack

The New Republic called for a cover that would be a spin-off of the Shepard Fairey posters displaying a drawing of Obama with words such as Progress, Change and Hope at the bottom.

What sounded like a breeze was more of a tightrope walk than I thought. It couldn't be too much like the drawings on the existing posters. They wanted him to look worried, but not too upset. And then there was the problem of having to work from photo reference in order to achieve a likeness, but not too close to any one photograph.

I sent this in with my fingers crossed and they went for it right away. It's online and now I have to pick it up at the newsstand... well, in the morning. This city might never sleep, but we humans have our limits.

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New Show: Women's Work
Posted by Nancy Stahl at 10:58 pm on September 7th

Sara Palin, Librarian by Zina Saunders

Two recent shows at the Society of Illustrators have disappointed me in their lack of participation by a proportionate number of women illustrators, the Anti-War show and the upcoming Politics 08.

Where is the strong, conceptual work being done by women illustrators? We all know that there are plenty of us in the business and that we do have personal viewpoints. Is it simply that women don't get these assignments and so don't have strong editorial pieces to show— which keeps the cycle going? Are women afraid to voice an opinion? Are our ideas shot down before they see the light?

The Women's Work show (here in the bowels of drawger) is meant to encourage women to demonstrate their ability to conceptualize, think critically and come up with images that carry a viewpoint on whatever subject enlists passionate feelings from them.

I'm proud to write that Zina Saunders is someone who did an image specifically for the show expressing an opinion that she says she wouldn't have painted otherwise. And it's a beaut..!

Other early submitters are Cathie Bleck and Diana Bryan. Thanks to all three for getting this off to a great start.

Unlimited Love by Cathie Bleck
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The Jungle by Diana Bryan

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Tennis Heaven
Posted by Nancy Stahl at 1:58 pm on August 29th

Up-close watching Serena

Last night my college roommate invited me to join her in the President's box (that's the USTA president, not the White House, but almost) at the US Open.

Inside Nirvana... that's my friend, Sue standing in front of the biggest, bluest hydrangeas I ever saw.

You wouldn't believe the size of this place. There is a huge dining room upstairs (lower right), fully staffed bar (going clockwise), view out the glass door and one person inside watching Serena on the flat-screen.

The second match was Rafael Nadal playing a qualifier. The score would make you believe Nadal steamrolled the poor guy, but he was a feisty player and had a 3-0 lead in the third set and a great attitude in the post-game interview. One of the best things about being there was not having to suffer through all the commentary on tv.

Now to me, a sports stadium should be all about hot dogs and Cracker Jacks and everyone being able to sit down close, but it sure was nice to see how the other half (actually that's more like top 5%) live. De Luxe...!!

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Another not destined for any annual
Posted by Nancy Stahl at 4:27 pm on August 11th

Well, at least I'm having a good time.

The AD originally wanted me to knit something to go across an entire spread in her magazine with the word "Fabric" woven into the weave. I was so excited to be using my "crafts as illustration" side that it took me a half a day to realize that the close up she wanted wouldn't allow enough room for the word to be knitted in and that even if I could do something, I wouldn't have the lens or ability to photograph it properly.

So, I sent her a sketch of a way for me to draw the weave large as she wanted and get the title on there. I would draw the fabric and add a satin label.

I started in Illustrator and messed around with it a bit more in Photoshop. My original plan had been to stitch out the lettering, but with time constraints, I decided to break out the clone tool rather than my embroidery machine. My favorite touch was the loose thread.

The art director was very pleased. Everyone was happy. A day or two passed. Then came the call..... the title of the article was "Fabric Fundamentals". Could I write that on the label, please? I asked her to let me see what I could come up with rather than squeeze all that on one line.

In the end, I decided to make it the care label. Or "made in...". One of those many add ons that scratch our necks. She liked the idea. I didn't have to ruin the lettering and a hush of peace covered the earth. The end.

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Ch-ch-ch-changes...!
Posted by Nancy Stahl at 11:35 am on August 1st

The story this illustrates is about the amazing cost of first growth wines.

Yesterday morning, at the stroke of the deadline bell (11am), I handed in my drawing of a bottle of wine for today's Weekend section of the WSJ. With the sketch enthusiastically approved a couple of days before, I thought I had a nice relaxing rest of the day lined up.

Oh, oh.... it needs to be red..!

Now, I'm not a wine drinker, unless someone pours me a glass and sticks it in front of my face and proposes a toast that I can't resist. (I've been told it's bad luck to toast with San Pelagrino). I guess I should have recognized that the wines listed were all red wines. And would "first growth" be beaujolais? Maybe I should have researched this but I thought it was generic and went with the color I like best, the softly green cast of white wine.

Oh, oh... the shape of the bottle is wrong, and it needs to be darker wine.

A short while after hearing from the art director (Matt Weber, great guy..!) that he liked the drawing, I got another call that it had to be red wine, Gasp.

So, I made the color changes and sent it back in record time.

Then there was a pause. I didn't hear from him right away. He's very responsive and their deadline was getting really really close. Then the email that I dread. They had to make changes there because the bottle shape was also incorrect.

I called back and asked if I could do them myself. He was happy to have me try but only had a small window. Can you spell adrenalin? Can I? Is it with or without an "e"?

All's well that prints well. I got it back to him on time and I think it's in today's paper. Haven't had the chance to go to the newsstand yet.

They didn't use the image online, but did put the border I made for the accompanying chart. The job was fun. The rush was a good jolt and I learned my lesson to not assume anything about wine or subjects I don't know well.

I had a lot of fun drawing the bill which was used for the chart and part of the label. And figuring how to get it wrapped.

This isn't going to get into any annuals, but I still enjoyed creating it.

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On the Roadshow
Posted by Nancy Stahl at 7:44 pm on June 28th

Books: big ones for looking, little ones to give away

ICON5 is almost here..! And I'm about ready for the Roadshow. Have my iPhoto books ready, big and small. The little ones are to give away along with magnets, lapel pins, postcards and a pile of Workbook tearsheets. My drawing table will be wiped clear by the time I'm through..!

inside the books

The iPhoto books were easy to layout and printed really well. Quick turnaround and about as painless a process as can be.

The layouts aren't identical since I put more images into the larger book.

By the way, it's not too late to attend ICON5. They kept the price the same as the original web price so that procrastinators could decide to go last minute.

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Profile Stock
Posted by Nancy Stahl at 4:13 pm on June 6th

Paying my bills (finally) today, I ran across this card that came in the mail from Profile Stock. I kept it because I thought it was pretty neat that with their all type treatment, my stamp ended up being the only image on the card..!

Sneaky Nancy

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Getting Ready for ICON Roadshow
Posted by Nancy Stahl at 12:45 pm on May 20th

drip

umbrella girl

angry walk

brushman

I've decided to do the Roadshow for ICON5 as well as attend the conference. I've never done a portfolio review before but with friends Jean Tuttle who has the experience to guide me, and Zina who is also new at this to learn alongside and lots of others with great work to inspire (Mary Lynn Blasutta just decided to go, too..!), I'm beginning to have some fun with it.

One of the books I'm going to put together will be of "out of my head" sketches. Rough things that I may polish a bit, add color and see if I have a viable illustration style that will allow me to work more quickly. The business has changed, I need to be able to do work that can fit the tighter deadlines. This may be a solution.

Some people spotted the drawings I've stuck in my sketchbook gallery. Here are a few more.

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This One's for Peter
Posted by Nancy Stahl at 11:43 pm on May 6th

Having the iPhone in my pocket has started me looking more at things I normally pass by quickly. And NYC is having a true spring season to add to the fun.

Here is the statue of Eleanor Roosevelt at 72nd street in Riverside Park. It made me think of Peter's use of planes in his drawings. I know the statue won't be new to him, but Peter, this one's for you.