I’m super excited to be teaching a summer school class on watermedia with the esteemed Caitlin Kuhwald. We are dividing up the session into two one-month blocks. I am teaching the first month on ink techniques. Caitlin is teaching the second month on watercolor. If you are currently attending CCA, you can still sign up to take the class! Email me for more info.
In addition to launching a new site, I just put up a new shop page! Although my focus will always be freelance illustration, I thought it could be fun to have prints or other goods occasionally for sale. The first items in the shop are my brand new cards sets. They are available in three different packages. Check them out: http://chriskoehler.com/shop.php
I’ve been doing ink wash illustrations for about six months now. Since starting with simple value studies late last year I’ve spent most of my time experimenting and working out my process. To see how my illustrations have evolved, I posted up my ink wash work from the last half year on my studio wall. Besides showing progression, it looks pretty cool…
The series of portraits is almost done now. Here are the two most recents ones. On the left is Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. The band name is a play on the French words for “Good Winter” so I wanted to show the singer in a snow storm. The right is a portrait of actor Willem Dafoe, who is just all around creepy and incredibly intense. Enjoy!
I’ve been picking up a nice bit of editorial work this year. Here are two recent pieces. The left piece is for OnEarth Magazine for an article about a confrontation with an angry elephant. The right piece is for the Boston Globe’s book review of Lionel Shriver’s “The New Republic.”
Huzzah! I got a full page with four illustrations in this year’s 3×3 Illustration Annual. The funny thing is that I missed the Pro show deadline and accidentally entered the Children’s Show for children’s book illustration. I have no idea how these got in, but I’m not going to question it. I would’ve posted this last month when it came out, but I brought my free copy to school and (accidentally again) left it there.
*Edit – The work on the facing page is by the wonderful illustrator Jannie Ho, check her work out here
For my recent portrait of Panda Bear I wanted to experiment and use more digital tools to create the piece. Usually I just clean up the contrast and add a color tint, but this time I wanted to create a full collage in Photoshop. Read more »
A while ago I posted a process article on my red and black work. Since I’ve been working in ink wash for a few months now, I thought it would be fun to post about my new process. Since this is an ever-evolving process, I might have to post again soon. In any case, here is a breakdown of my last piece, a portrait of Mike Hadreas, aka Perfume Genius: Read more »
My most recent work has been a series of portraits. I am aiming to have a full portrait portfolio in a few weeks. Here are the last two pieces I have done: David Bowie on the left and Stephen King on the right. Both men are a huge inspiration on me, so I wanted to capture their spirit as much as possible. Enjoy!
This is Part 2 in a series on sketchbooks, which will continue every now and then. Read Part 1 here.
Sketchbooks can be used for many types of arts. I’ve had books purely for calligraphy and other books to storyboard longer stories. I typically do my final illustrations in sketchbooks, as I prefer the portability and paper stock to fancier materials. My last book, Devotion, was done entirely in one sketchbook. Read more »
