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Imagine That!

I have been going quite mad these past weeks because today I’m headed to Canada for a month! This is my biggest piece of news to share with you. I’ve been accepted as one of four students/apprentices for the August 2013 Imaginism Studios Workshop. I will be spending all day, everyday for a whole glorious month learning illustration with my fellow apprentices under theĀ tutelageĀ of Thierry Lafontaine, one of the senior artists at Imaginism Studios. Each day during the week we’ll have lessons and homework and on weekends we’ll go on field trips to do things such as meet other artists, sketch on the subway, or see a place likeĀ NiagaraĀ Falls. We’ll be learning techniques and theories of illustration and using them both digitally with photoshop and traditionally with acrylics. Other senior artists from Imaginism Studios will also stop by to talk or give lessons when they are available.Ā We’ll be living in the Imaginism House together as well, learning, dining, hanging out, and basically being a family of artists. Spending so much time immersed with art and other creative people has me over the moon, really I think I’m in the next galaxy over!

A little fairy watching ants drawn by Imaginism Studios

If you’re not familiar with Imaginism Studios, they are a group of artists who create beautiful concept art, movie pre-production art, and children’s book illustrations. They work with companies such as Disney, Pixar, and HarperCollins. If you’ve seen Tim Burton’s Alice & Wonderland, you’ve seen characters they created concept work for. You can view quite a number of their various pieces here. Thierry Lafontaine also created the cover for the young adult book, The Peculiar, which I am anxious to read. When the cover features a mechanical bird with wings of gears, how could I resist it? Here it isĀ in all its steam punk glory:

Ā© HarperCollins

I’ve admired Imaginism’s work for a number of years and I still can’t quite believe I made it into one of their workshops. My mind is well and truly boggled. I’d feel as if I’d slipped through the cracks like a shadow and snuck into the workshop if it wasn’t for individual interview and the personal communication I had with Thierry during the process. And since I don’t appear to have been kidnapped by sadistic faeries who make your dreams come true, only to wake you at the last second, I’m determined to soak up as much knowledge as possible and thoroughly enjoy my time in the company of such wonderful artists. I really encourage you to check out their artĀ on their website or through deviantArt. There’s so much to look at!

Well, I’m off to Oz (er, Canada anyhow) to learn from the wizards of illustration. I’ll do my best to post all sorts of lovely details and images, but the workshop is intense, so I may not have the time! If I don’t post before, I’ll be up and running again in September with all sorts of great changes for the website and plenty of artwork to share.

Squee!
– Jools

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