Horse Portrait- Cinderella.

Decided to do a fun little drawing of a friend's pony- it gave me a good excuse to do a lot of hand lettering exercises!

Sailor Moon and her Scouts.

So I finally have a new piece to show you guys! I was given the opportunity to make a piece for the "Moon Power" Sailor Moon zine that should be coming out sometime in the spring! I was allowed to draw whatever I wanted, obviously as long as it was Sailor Moon related, and who better to draw then our titular heroine and her closest friends! I had a really fun time illustrating this- Sailor Moon was a cartoon that I adored as a kid, not just for the fun fantasy of the show itself, but the time and effort it put into accurately referencing mythology/astronomy/astrology! What can I say, I'm a huge sucker for that kind of stuff.

I'll post information about the Kickstarter that will set up to fund the production of the zine when it becomes available- it's a great way to show your support for a group of really talented illustrators that I am honored to have my work together with!

Olympic Poster Features!

So a lot has been going on in my life lately- both good and bad. August honestly went by in a blur, and I can't believe September is already coming to a close... where did the time go?

I've had some great luck with selling my Olympic poster prints, and have even gotten featured on some really great blogs/websites/publications, so I figured I'd post some links here if anyone wants to take a look! They also spread around Facebook a fair bit, getting mentioned by some very awesome people including but not limited to Sidelines Magazine, The Chronicle of the Horse, and the USDF (United States Dressage Federation)! Quite cool!

Illustration Age
Dappled Grey
Chronicle Connection

On an unrelated note- don't worry! I'm still drawing and working hard... I even have a piece that will be featured in a full color Sailor Moon zine that's in the works, so keep your eyes peeled for updates!

Online Shop!

Recently I launched an online shop that is currently stocked with prints and hopefully in the near future will also feature products toting my surface designs! You can take a look/make purchases at kristenacampora.bigcartel.com/.

Senior Studio.

So I have a lot of photographs of things I've wanted to share but haven't really had the time to do so- with post-college life and my trip to ICON7 (which was amazing, by the way!) I've had too much on my plate to take care of, let alone adding photo editing to my list of things to do!

To bring a close to the chronicle that was my time at MICA, here's some photos of my Senior studio. I basically lived there the entire year and being able to share a workspace with my fellow illustrators was amazing. As you can see I had a homasote board covered in postcards/business cards/prints featuring work of illustrators who I am inspired by (and also a giant photograph of Ice-T, because really, who doesn't love Ice-T?) I also attached a corkboard to one side of my desk to give me a little extra wall space (which I covered in my paper dolls and calendar from the first semester of Lifestyles).

I really do miss it dearly.

Horse Portrait- Bob.

So I've finally had a nice amount of decompression/relaxation time to recover from the end of my time at MICA, and I figured I'd whip something up that I had meant to do for a long time but had been too busy to sit down and actually create- a simple little memorial portrait of a horse named Bob that belonged to a good friend of mine who sadly had to be put down a few years ago. I took the opportunity to fool around a bit with how I work when only using digital tools, and I'm pleased with the results- it was quite tough to refrain from whipping out my ink and brushes on this one though!

Senior Commencement Exhibition!

Here's a view of my Senior thesis show! I know it's been a bit delayed, but better late then never, right? I've been incredibly busy with post-graduation job applications and running around trying to visit as many of my MICA friends as I could before they made the trek back to each of their home states, which took up a lot of my free time!

I had an amazing time at the MICA Art Walk and managed to sell three pieces from my show- two of my pattern samples (the horse and moth ones), and my London 2012 Olympics Equestrian Poster! The rest of my pieces (except the pillows) are currently for sale, and if you are interested in one feel free to contact me at kristenacampora@gmail.com. Each one is a gallery-quality giclée print on archival paper that has been mounted and framed.

As a side note, this is my 100th post on this blog, and I don't think anything could be more fitting for such a milestone then a post about the show representing the culmination of my 4 years at MICA!

Moth Pattern.

Here's one of the final things I'm going to post from my last semester at MICA- a pattern of moths I made for my thesis! I have always loved insects, and moths are no exception- I just adore how fuzzy and cute they are. I ended up printing the first pattern out on fabric through Spoonflower and made a pillow for my thesis show, just as I had done with this pattern!

Horse Pattern.

Surprise, surprise- I made a horse pattern in thesis! I decided since today was the running of the 137th Preakness Stakes horse race that it was an apt time to post it! Each horse is accurately colored to an existing type of coat seen in the equine species! It was a lot of fun to do this pattern, though initially it was far more limited in it's scale- Initially I had only a few different colors, but a friend suggested doubling the pattern and pushing myself with it to really make it a unique surface design.

London 2012 Olympics Aquatics Poster.

So this is the last poster I made for the London 2012 Olympics in my Independent Study, this time it's representing the Aquatics division of the games! Swimming competitively was a big part of my life from age 7 to 18, but after graduating from High School (and after serving 4 years on my school's varsity swim team) I knew I wasn't fast enough to have it really take me anywhere farther. Although I don't compete in swimming events anymore the sport is near and dear to my heart, so I was quite jazzed to work on this piece. The background features the London Eye, and the pattern used in this piece was based off of one found on this vintage English teapot.

Crystal Pattern.

Here's another pattern set I made in thesis- crystals! I've always been fascinated with crystals (and rocks, oddly enough) since I was a kid, so I figured why not make a fun design with them! Experimenting with geometric shapes was quite a change of pace for me, but I had a really good time with it- might have to start incorporating them more in my work!

London 2012 Olympics Athletics Poster.

This is another poster from my Independent Study with Daniel Krall! This time it's representing the Athletics division of the Olympics. Our runner is sprinting past Saint Paul's Cathedral (which is toting a pattern I based off of this antique English chair). I had a lot of fun with this, but for me the most difficult part was the scale of the figure- most of my sketches tried to include the entirety of his body, but it wasn't really giving me the aesthetic/the composition I wanted/that looked best.

Feather Pattern.

Sorry once again for the delay in posting my work from the semester, but a bunch of stuff happened all at once and I was quite preoccupied- I finished all of my classes at MICA, put up my senior exhibition (expect photographs soon), and graduated! Crazy, I know. I still can't get over the fact that I'm no longer a MICA student- 4 years went by so fast!

After doing editorial work for the first half of the Spring semester I wanted to make some patterns for surface designs- these are a pair of feather patterns I made! I had a lot of fun with them, and figuring out my color combination choices was really entertaining. I ended up printing the first pattern out on fabric through Spoonflower and made a pillow for my thesis show- don't worry, I'll be posting photos!

London 2012 Olympics Equestrian Poster.

Another poster for the London 2012 Olympics, this time representing the Equestrian disciplines featured in the Olympic Games. I incorporated a pattern referenced from this antique English chair in my hand lettering, and the horse is jumping the famous Tower Bridge! In this poster the hardest part was figuring out a way to balance what details of the architecture to include and what to ignore but I think I found a successful way to go about it! I am a competitive horseback rider so doing this poster was nothing short of an absolute pleasure- when I have the opportunity to draw horses/riders, I take it!

See No Evil.

Another thesis piece as we draw to the end of the year/the commencement show! This was actually one of two editorials I did based on the This American Life episode See No Evil. I wasn't as satisfied with the second piece however, so I scrapped it. The story focused on people ignoring the very negative things going on in their life to their detriment. For this piece I played around a lot with the concept of willful ignorance and threw in a reference to wearing "rose colored glasses". On the whole, I am pretty happy with how it came out!

London 2012 Olympics Gymnastics Poster.

So this year I did an Independent Study with the super cool dude and great illustrator Daniel Krall. Through the semester he and I worked together while I made four posters for the London 2012 Olympics which I am crazy pumped for! My concept was to integrate patterns found on antique/vintage objects made in England, architecture found in London, and a person performing an event found in the Olympics- this one is for Gymnastics, and features Big Ben's clock face. The floral pattern was based off of an antique English teacup- you can see the post I made about it here. In each poster I limited the amount of colors I used, and variations of the colors can be seen in not only the Olympic rings but the flag of England. It was really hard to do- making simple yet effective posters is no walk in the park, but I'm incredibly happy with how they turned out and I learned a lot!

Urban Nature.

Woah! Thesis updates! As the end of the year draws close, I'm going to start leaking all of the stuff that I've been working on this semester. This is a spot for the This American Life episode "Urban Nature" which talks about nature creeping into man-made environments and sneaking in places where its very presence is a rebuke to the notion that we have things under control. I had a lot of fun with this- drawing plants is really quite relaxing!

Pokemon Battle Royale Prints.

The opening to the Pokemon Battle Royale show has come and gone, and my piece "Pidgey Used Gust!" was bought! There are still some really amazing pieces available- some are the only prints of their pieces, some are part of a limited run of prints- and I highly suggest if you or someone you know is a Pokemon lover to grab one of the pieces at the Light Grey Art Lab shop here. Every purchase supports some really talented artists and a really sweet gallery! You can see all 151 of the pieces from the show here and photos from the opening here.

Self Portrait.

Once again, I apologize for another non-thesis related post!  The entire Senior illustration class was required to create self portraits for a Zynga-sponsored Senior Commencement Show poster. Most of my friends went with simple portraits, but I really wanted to make a fun, unique piece (and apparently make my life way harder/add way too much work on my plate) as I haven't done a drawing of myself in ages. So- this is me chilling on a gigantic snake.
You can see the design of the poster with all of my fellow graduating illustrators here!

Pokemon Battle Royale Features!

Here's a couple links to posts on the net where I (and my amazing co-participants) have been featured for the Pokemon Battle Royale show!

Kotaku (1, 2)
MICA
The A.V Club
Forbes
The Fox Is Black
IGN
Destructoid
GameInformer
Fruitless Pursuits
The Gamers Hub
Clearance Bin Review
Tor.com

Pidgey Used Gust!

Egads, another update? Shocking, I know! Lots of things have been happening in my life, both good and bad, and that along with getting work done for the end of the semester means I'm crazy busy- more artwork will be posted soon, but unfortunately keeping my blog updated has to take the backseat for now.

However, since the opening is coming so soon, and my fellow participants have been posting their work, I figured I should toss this up. I was lucky to be accepted into the Pokemon Battle Royale show (opening April 20th) at the Light Grey Art Gallery earlier in the semester. We were given our choice of Pokemon from a list, and I ended up with the adorable Pidgey! Who doesn't like this guy? Pidgey was a staple Pokemon of the early generations of the game (and was one of the first Pokemon you encounter in the wild!) and has some pretty dang awesome evolutions- I'm a huge sucker for Pidgeot!

I'm completely honored to be featured among amazing artists such as Sam Bosma, Kali Ciesemier, Meg Hunt, Mare Odomo, Julian Callos, Annie Wu, Nick Iluzada, and many other inspirational illustrators, classmates, and friends (a full list of the participants in the show can be found here). Unfortunately I won't be able to make it to the opening, but I hope everyone who lives in the area will go! The print of this piece will even be able to be purchased there for $40- I'm not planning on selling any other copies of this, so it's your only chance to get this in physical form!

Floral Pattern.

So this is my first post in ages... it's not that I haven't been busy, however! My last semester here at MICA had a very rocky start, and I've only recently been getting back into the swing of things, but not to fear, there's a lot more that will be posted quite soon! To start off, here's a pattern I made for part of a piece I'm doing for my Independent Study with Dan Krall (I am creating posters for the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games, which will start to be revealed soon). The pattern was based off of the designs on these English pieces of china.