I’ve been lousy poster as of late. It started a little over a month ago when I came down with a nasty little bout of tonsillitis, and continued after I got better and busy with work.

Something big is in the works which I am grateful to have been asked to be a part of. It hasn’t officially been announced yet, so I have to hold off on letting you in on the details. However, it’s related to the photo above which is my blank canvas. Or blank paper to be precise about it. Not a great photo or anything, but you get the idea.

Preparing my paper/canvas for a painting or illustration is an exercise I really get into. There’s something quietly serene and pure about cutting the paper, setting it to my board, taping the edges, and sizing it to paint on. It’s become a little ritual, a little offering to the gods of creativity out there who I hope will lend me a little bit of their sugar. I’m hoping to show you what happens with this one soon. Hopefully when this whole thing is announced!

This is a little guy I had made some time back. Please don’t ask why he has a telephone. He’s pretty annoyed at the absurdity himself.

One of my favorite children’s book illustrators is Trina Schart Hyman who sadly passed away in 2004 of breast cancer. She won 4 Caldecott medals for her work in children’s books which is no small feat, and she was the art director of Cricket Magazine during the 70’s. (Cricket was cool!) My introduction to her work was through the gift of a Peter Pan book for Christmas when I was nine years old.

Peter Pan was and still is a huge favorite of mine, but Trina’s illustrations in this particular edition brought the story to life in a whole new way for me. Gone were the cutesy Disney designs from the animated film.

Here was a raw and primal vision of Pan in stark black and white, emoting love, rage, curiosity, bravado and naiveté. I literally fell in love with this romantic vision of Peter Pan, the fierceness of this Tiger Lily, the warmth of this Wendy and the cruelty of this Hook and his pirates. No other Pan can be real for me. No other can compare.

Trina’s astonishing draftsmanship was and still is pure magic to me. But there is warmth and richness to her drawings and compositions that take my breath away.

It’s hard for me to describe. But there is something more than just technical prowess here. Trina captured something archetypal and intangible, and each time I look at these drawings they make me want to cry because of the rawness and vulnerability that is somehow apparent to me.

Or maybe I’m just being sentimental. I was nine after all! And yet, why do I still feel the same way looking at these images now, as I did back then? It’s magic. And that’s the quality I would love to have as I keep doing what I do.

Here are a couple things I discovered this weekend while visiting home for Christmas. I found my very first record album I ever owned! My parents bought me this It’s a Small World folk song album when I was probably about three years old. I remember listening to this incessantly, and as you can see it’s pretty well worn. A children’s choir sings various folk songs, and of course the theme song is thrown in there. The words to the songs are on the back, so when I was old enough to read, I would sing along with the record.

I also adored the album art as a kid. I loved all the different costumes on all the children, and I remember trying to guess and figure out where each child was from based on what they were wearing. And what do I discover now? This fun and striking art was done by none other than Mary Blair. Signed by her on the lower right corner. Fitting, since she designed the ride at Disneyland!

Also, I came across my maquette for Julius, my character from my animated short Elegy. This was the first sculpture/maquette I ever created, not counting a bust I had to make for a class ages ago. I made this about four years ago with sculpey and painted him with acrylics as part of my pre-production for my animation. There are supposed to be puppets on strings hanging from his hands, but I never had the chance to attach them. I actually had sculpted the little puppets too, but they were reeeaaally clumsy. As is this maquette, but I still find it charming.

Julius holds a special place for me. His character pops up for me now and then, in some form or another. I’m sure you’ve noticed that in his most recent incarnation he’s been enjoying the snow with his red umbrella. He’s become a bit shorter since the making of this maquette and the animation. I liked the soft warm glow of the Christmas tree lights that bathes him here.

Check it out! Woohoo!
www.nadinetakvorian.com

I just had a chance to check out the the animation design of Mary Blair over at the Cartoon Art Museum. I wasn’t aware of Mary as one of the first women concept designers for Disney, or her work by itself. However, you instantly recognize her style, since her designs and color styles are distinctly apparent in such classics as Alice in Wonderland, Cinderella, Peter Pan, The Three Caballeros, and more. She designed the It’s a Small World ride in Disneyland! You can’t escape her work. We have all grown up with her style and whimsy, and I find myself smiling at images of her art that keep popping up in my mind. She managed to capture something iconic, full of warmth, surreal, and yet playful in her designs. I can only hope to try to emulate some her essence in my own work. Go check out the exhibit! It’s up through March 18th, 2008.

Maverix Studios is hosting another art auction, this one benefiting Glide Memorial Church, here in San Francisco. Finally I’ve come around and made a piece for this one! The auctions are always a great event to raise money for various causes and I’m happy to be able to contribute.

Some of you may remember Julius from Elegy. He somehow always finds his way back…

In Syria, Ali Farzat finds that newspaper editors are unwilling to publish his cartoons for fear that they will be punished by the government. Farzat’s cartoons are often critical of figures in authority, making him a target of a government which prefers to censor works that it deems embarassing.

Some of my favorite artists are represented by this gallery. Namely Dave McKean, Kent Williams, and Jon J Muth. Well worth your time to check out.

I find it terribly appropriate that a genius instructor I had the amazing fortune of studying with years ago, happens to resurface through a new contact I made. I met Tom Gibbons only two days ago, and we may collaborate on a short animated film of his. Through a few emails relaying the rough scope of his ideas, he mentioned his friend Barron Storey.

Barron Storey is one of the pre-eminent illustrators in the US — among his many achievements, his Amazon rainforest paintings hang in the Smithsonian. Barron has a way of commanding your presence and leaving you shivering and cowering in your seat, wallowing in your ineptness. I’ve never met anyone else who so honestly and unapologeticaly embodies the role of mad genius. And I feel incredibly forunate to have studied with him. There is no student who left his hands without being stripped of their artistic hubris. We all walk and think, draw and paint, with the ghost of Barron in our forehead. His remnants are tendrils in your mind, reminding you of every what-if, every tragedy, every comedy, every searing archetype that you embody. And how it is possible to tap into the dark wealth of your psyche if you only allow yourself to destroy what you create, and create what you have destroyed. A true shaman, indeed.