Jacob Dewey, Illustrator

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: Poem

2007-07-26T10:41:00.000-07:00

CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW LARGER.

Here I am doing something I didn't ever want to: I'm posting an old drawing to Illustration Friday. I am very busy right now, thouh, so it's this or nothing, and it is awfully appropriate...
This is a drawing I did as part of a job for a Toronto-based writer named Shawn Benjamin. He wrote the poem, I did the drawing, and they were made into postcards to be sold in sets of ten or so. The poems and drawings were different on each card. Just about everyone I showed them to had a different favourite, but this was mine.
Enjoy! Comment! Oh, and check back next week or the week after, when I hope to have something NEW up again...!

Like what you see here? Click on the link to view my website:
visit my website:www.jacobdewey.com

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: "discovery"

2007-07-17T21:18:00.001-07:00

CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW LARGER.

A new drawing for Illustration Friday.
Something different this time-just pencil and paper, no colour. A couple of Woolly mammoths might not seem to have too much to do with the theme of discovery, but I was reading just this past Thursday about the recent discovery of a near-perfectly preserved 'baby' mammoth in northern Siberia. The next day, when the topic of "discovery" came up, that little mammoth was still very much on my mind. And so here we are.

Like what you see here? Click on the link to view my website:
visit my website:www.jacobdewey.com

Comments are always welcome.

Illustration Friday: GEEKY

2007-07-11T22:36:00.000-07:00

A new drawing for Illustration Friday.
Sci-Fi fans get picked on a lot, I know. I ALMOST feel bad for them as i post this.
Geeks be proud!
Want to see it better?
CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW LARGER.

Like what you see here? Click on the link to view my website:
visit my website:www.jacobdewey.com

Comments are always welcome.

Illustration Friday: CAMOUFLAGE

2007-06-25T23:42:00.000-07:00

A new drawing for Illustration Friday.
There's camouflage, and then there's camouflage.
Want to see it better?
CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW LARGER.

Like what you see here? Click on the link to view my website:
visit my website:www.jacobdewey.com

Comments are always welcome.

"REJECTION" - Illustation Friday

2007-06-19T23:45:00.000-07:00

Another drawing for Illustration Friday. I had a lot of different ideas for this theme before settling on the one you see here, but they were all pretty depressing. With summer just coming on, I felt like drawing something upbeat. And here it is.

"Kool Klub" comes from real life. My wife and her sister had a club made up of the two of them when they were kids, and they called it "Kool Klub", with the two K's and everything. The goal of their club was basically to be impolite and unfriendly. For example, they would walk extra slow across crosswalks to hold up traffic, and they would never smile at anyone when greeting them. These were rules they had to follow, even, among others. Ridiculous...

As always, comments are more than welcome, and please do check out my website.

visit my website:www.jacobdewey.com

Illustration Friday: (SPACE) SUIT

2007-06-13T23:42:00.000-07:00

A quick sketch for Illustration Friday. It's nice to have a little time to get something together (for the first time in a while). Comments always welcome.

visit my website:www.jacobdewey.com

Oops!

2007-06-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a while since the last entry. I got busy there with a few projects. One of those projects involved planning and executing a surprise birthday weekend for the wife's birthday (a smashing success!).

Another project involved involved decorating a pair of (blank) canvas sneakers for a charity auction being held at a local clothing boutique here in Victoria. 18 pairs of shoes were given out to 18 different artists and designers, and now they're in the front window of Rebel Rebel, located on Lower Johnson Street (recently renamed LoJo, for better or for worse...). Here are some pictures of my contribution:

They are up for auction as we speak. Bidding ends July 14th, and there will be a party to celebrate the venture and to announce winning bidders. All funds raised go to a charity called "Power To Be", which I am sorry to say I know almost nothing about.

I'll let you know how the auction goes after the 14th, and I may be back with an "Illustration Friday" sketch or two between now and then.

Oh, and I got my first response from a publisher. It wasn't a job (yet?), but some very nice feedback.

Bye for now.

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Remember

2007-05-02T23:05:00.001-07:00

PLEASE CLICK ON IMAGE TO VIEW FULL-SIZE.

"Remember" got me thinking of nostalgia and time, and that led to time-travel somehow. I guess if you've got time travel, you don't need to remember...? Anyhow, here it is, feel free to click on the image to view it larger (it does look a lot better that way). Comments are more than welcome, as always.

visit my website:www.jacobdewey.com

2007-05-02T23:05:00.000-07:00

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY - Polar

2007-04-23T13:19:00.000-07:00

My second-ever entry to "Illustration Friday". The theme is "Polar". I hope you like it! Comments are welcome!

visit my website:www.jacobdewey.com

ILLUSTRATION FRIDAY: FORTUNE

2007-04-17T19:50:00.000-07:00

Here is my first contribution to Illustration Friday. Putting it together made me realise that I haven't been drawing as muh as I probably should of late. So, if you like what you see here (and please do check out my website), be sure to check back next week, and the week after that, and the week after that...Comments are more than welcome. Let me know what you think!

visit my website:www.jacobdewey.com

Some artists that I like...

2007-04-10T13:47:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd take a few minutes to list off some artists whose work I enjoy and/or I feel that my work has been influenced by. I've included a link for each one in case anyone feels like having a look at what their work is all about. I recommend it.

These are listed in no particular order:

SHARY BOYLE
I met Shary Boyle when I was living in Toronto for a year. She was about the only artist I encountered during that time that really blew me away. She was a real help to me in terms of finding my way around the art scene in Toronto, too.
www.sharyboyle.com

NELSON DEWEY
Yes, you're right to suspect that he's related. That's my dad, and it would be ridiculous for me to pretend that he hasn't been a big influence on my work. I have always appreciated the complexity, the high density of detail in his cartooning especially.
www.coastnet.com/home/ndewey/

WINSOR MCCAY
I am especially fond his "Rarebit Fiend" series, but "Little Nemo" is a classic for a reason. Again, I love the huge amount of detail.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winsor_McCay

CHRIS WARE
Hmm, now we have an apparent lack of detail...What can you really say about Chris Ware? "Believe the hype", I guess. The writing and the drawing work so well together, and the graphic design of it all is basically unrivaled in the world of cartooning and graphic novels. I'm (still) waiting for the collected "Jimmy Corrigan" to be re-issued!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Ware

HENRY DARGER
A little bit creepy, this one, but his paintings are undeniably beautiful despite their naivety. If you like his paintings, be sure to check out "In the Realms of the Unreal", a documentary devoted entirely to him. It's fascinating. He was an odd, odd fellow.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Darger

MAURICE SENDAK
This is a big one. "Where the Wild Things Are" is, I think, perhaps the most perfect picture book I've seen. His drawing style is atmospheric and full of character. And moody. I love it.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maurice_Sendak

MARCEL DZAMA
I think he's the third Canadian on the list...There's definitely a similarity between Dzama and Henry Darger. Maybe that's why I like his stuff so much.
http://www.richardhellergallery.com/dynamic/artist.asp?ArtistID=3

CHARLES SCHULTZ
You know all about this one, I'm sure, but I couldn't stand to leave him off the list. He revolutionized comic strip, whether he meant to or not, and his drawings are gorgeous in their simplicity. Plus the writing is priceless, far better and more sophisticated than it ever needed to be.
http://www.snoopy.com/

That's all for today!

Updated website, waiting to hear...

2007-04-09T19:00:00.001-07:00

It wasn't a quick fix. I have updated my website. There are new pictures in the "portfolio" section, plus I have added my resume and CV, so that anyone who's interested can get a look at my artistic background. Oh, and there is a lovely picture of me with the wife, Jackie.

In other news, I am still waiting to hear back about a Canada Council grant that I applied for ages ago. My fingers are getting sore from being crossed for so long. Also, I have finished sending out packages (illustration samples) to Canadian publishers, about twenty of them in total.

Here are the images that I have sent out in each package:

BRAND NEW

2007-03-29T18:19:00.000-07:00

Well, here we are. Here I am, at any rate.
This blog is brand new, just as I am brand new to the field of illustration, more or less. I've been working as an artist for many years now, but I've never actively pursued illustration as a true full-time career, which is my current goal.

I've got a link there to the right which will take you right to my website. There you'll find out a little more about me. You'll also find some recent examples of my artwork. Please do visit, and feel free to come back here and tell me what you think.

My primary goal wih this blog is to keep an open diary account of my experiences just starting out in the industry. Once I've gotten some more illustration experience under my belt (fingers crossed), that goal may shift somewhat. I also hope to make some good contacts through this blog, whether those contacts be other illustrators, writers, publishers, or just fans of illustration. I hope to post updates at least once a week, so check back often.

Here is a little groundwork for what's to come:

I am thirty-one years old. I work full-time at a customer service job. Please note that it is a job, not a career. I went to University to study the visual arts and graduated (from the University of Victoria's Visual Arts Dept.) with Honours and Distinction back in 2000. In the seven years since I have yet to really put my degree to its best possible use. I hope to change that now. I'm working to change that now, also. I've set myself a deadline: January 1st, 2008. If I am not out of my current (less-than-completely-satisfying) job by then and working full-time as an artist, then I will have missed my target date. I mention that date here in the hopes it will add a bit of dramatic tension to this blog.

I set myself this target date near the end of last year, and I realise that I may not be realistically giving myself enough time to succeed. However, I think the pressure will help me out a lot, light a fire under my rear end. Sorry about the corny language, but I am trying to keep this G-rated.

Since the beginning of the year I have pulled together my website, put together an initial mail-out package, sent a few of those out, and even attended my first book-related event, "The Pacific Festival of the Book".
I feel like that's a pretty good start, plus I've got this blog up and running, but I know I've got a lot of work ahead of me between now and the end of the year.

I picked up a copy of "Children's Writer's & Illustrator's Market" (2007 edition). It has been my main resource thus far. It was reading one of the articles in that book which prompted me to start this blog. I have bought issues in previous years, as well, when I was still working up to starting my entry into the industry. It is a truly amazing book. If anyone out there has found my blog and not yet found that book, I urge you to check it out. It's the sort of thing I'd like to keep to myself, in a way, as a
sort of advantage, but that's not really in the spirit of blogging now, is it? The few (seven so far, I think) mail-outs I've done so far have all been to book publishers listed in that book. I have yet to get any responses or work as a result of having used the book, but I have faith.

It's only been a week or so since I mailed those sample packages out anyways. I probably won't hear back for two or three months at least. I have another dozen or so packages to mail out this weekend. So far I'm targeting Canadian publishers. There are dozens of American and International publishers I'd love to work for, too, but I had to start somewhere, and my homeland seemed like a good place to do it. I am particularly interested in Orca Books, a publisher based in Victoria, BC, my home town. It has a great catalogue from what I've seen. Also, I've met the artistic director (Maggie deVries) once (although it was a while back, and she may not remember), and she seemed very nice, easy to get along with. Again, I mention this for dramatic tension more than anything.

That's it for now...
I'd appreciate any feedback pn this blog any time. I'd also appreciate any helpful hints or advice regarding breaking into the business. I'm interested in just about any work related to illustration, but especially children's book illustration. No job is too big or small. I'd also appreciate any help I can get where exposure is concerned. If anyone knows of any webrings, talent pools, or organizations I can get involved with that are likely to help get my artwork
out there, please do let me know.

Thanks for reading!
-Jacob