Matthew Blissard

Advertising Week

2011-01-07T17:29:00.000-08:00

A project I did my last semester of school for the Advertising Week conference in New York.

I got to work with students from the VCU Brandcenter who had been assigned to create the promotional and informational material for Ad Week 2010 in New York. The tagline for the conference was "Get Out of Your Head". Essentially the idea was to show the feeling during the moment inspiration strikes.

The colors used matched the colors of the logo for the event. Unfortunately my (and my coworkers') work was never used for the actual event. I was reluctant to release my illustration as I didn't know if the project would be killed or not, but the conference has already taken place so I don't see why it would be an issue now.

I was pretty satisfied with the final product as an abstract concept being represented visually.

Apologies for not updating. I graduated the past Spring and have been re-evaluating, well, my life. I've sort of taken a hiatus from illustration since graduation and hopefully will be updating more often from now on.

Happy New Years everyone!

-MB

The Final Stretch

2010-04-13T22:41:00.000-07:00

Hello friends.

Once again, apologies for the lack of updates. I've been producing work aplenty, it's just hard to find time to get on here and post.

I'll start with some process work for a series I'm finishing up for my Honors Studio class this semester. The "theme" of the work revolves around the father-son relationship and its universality. The topics are drawn from experiences of my own relationship with my father. However, the series is by no means an autobiographical one, just personally influenced. Hopefully there will be four parts to the series, each dealing with some type of emotion found within the paternal relationship as a whole. This first work is titled Isolation and Transference of Values.

Obviously first comes the thumbnail.

I've been partial to distorting perspective lately, and I thought for this particular piece it would greatly assist in conveying the idea/feeling of this topic. I especially like the tension it creates in a scene that is so still. After I settled on the composition I shot some reference and penciled the drawing.

I was (for the most part) satisfied with it. There are a couple places that I retouched the linework in photoshop after I scanned in the drawing. And last comes the fun part, coloring!

I went through a couple different color schemes and settled on a green/red compliment. Also I've been trying to implement more painted texture into my digital pieces so they don't come off as flat as alot of digital work does nowadays (not to mention I just flat out miss painting). I was really satisfied with the effect here, but I'm still working to see how far I can push the idea.

On a lighter note, I'm taking a Science-Fiction/Fantasy Illustration course this semester and it is so fun to draw things that don't necessarily have to have these deep-seeded meanings. I told my friend the other day, BJ, it's like I'm back in middle school doodling the things I used to doodle, except now I'm just way better at drawing then I used to be haha. This one's called Space Zombies from Hell.

I had a good idea for incorporating text into the illustration (the assignment was to design a book cover), but alas I ran out of time before the critique (and it wasn't required). Once all this crazyness slows down with school I'll definitely go back and drop the text in.

Again, here you can see my attempts at incorporating hand-painted elements in my digital work. I think it's relatively successful here too.

I have so many projects either in the works or finished, but I suppose that's for another time. I'll keep this updated over the next few weeks and post more process work again. As always, comments and criticism are welcome.

-Matthew

ANY WAY YOU WANT IT, THATS THE WAY YOU NEED IT!

2010-02-16T21:42:00.001-08:00

Hello all, terribly sorry I haven't posted on here for OVER A MONTH. I can honestly say this semester is by far the most hectic semester I've ever experienced. I haven't even had time to fill my sketchbook with anything but thumbnails for current and upcoming projects (so lame). Here's a couple sketches from the beginning of the semester, before I was buried with so much schoolwork.

A couple projects will be done within the next two weeks, hopefully, so I'll definitely be posting those and my process work for them. I'm going to attempt to bring more traditional media back into my work, as I feel I've begun to slip over to the dark side (purely digital). Cue the Emperor Palpatine's imperial march song.

And lastly, a video me and my roommates made before the semester started.

Night kiddos!

More Pigs

2009-12-31T18:48:00.001-08:00

Here's a piece I just entered in a contest over at Superpunch. I'm not sure it's finished yet, but the deadline is up. Enjoy. AND HAPPY NEW YEARS!!

2009-12-27T22:53:00.000-08:00

I can't believe I'm drawing pigs. AGAIN. Post soon.
In the meantime, here's a Christmas gift I made for my sister. I'm not satisfied with it, but she liked it, and I guess that's all that matters.

Merry Late Christmas!

End of the Semester

2009-12-13T16:41:00.000-08:00

A few pieces from the end of the semester. The first two are screenprints, the last is digital. More to come.

Up too late again.

2009-11-28T23:41:00.000-08:00

Messin' around.

Franksgivin'

2009-11-26T23:05:00.001-08:00

Okay okay I know I've been slacking on posting, there's no excuse really. Here's a couple of projects from my graphic essay class. Both are based on a "twisted" version of The Three Little Pigs folktale.

"Three Little Pigs at Dawn"

I think I'm finally figuring out my particular style and how to work with it. I've got a bunch of projects in the works at the moment so I'll definitely be keeping up with this blog more often. Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving.

Sooo...

2009-11-09T14:42:00.000-08:00

I submitted my sketchbook with my honors portfolio application thingy, and now I feel naked with out it. WEIRRRRDD.

In other news, here's the Avett Brothers doin' what they do best:

I've been awake for 48 hours now. So awful. Hope everyone's having a splendiforous day!

2009-10-15T14:11:00.001-07:00

Awesome.

MGMT

2009-10-04T14:41:00.000-07:00

some sketches

'Ello

2009-09-29T18:51:00.000-07:00

Been too long. School's back in session, the first image was an assignment for my graphic essay class. Write about a place (fiction or non) and illustrate it. I chose a mad scientist laboratory. Overall pleased with it. Click the images to see em' bigger. Comments/criticism always welcome. Hope you're all doing well.

Also, I have no idea why this last image turned blue. I tried uploading it several times. If you have any idea why it would do that let me in on the secret eh?

OH hayyyy.

2009-04-02T13:48:00.000-07:00

A couple projects and some more recent sketches. The first image is a wine label concept for a brand called "Meteor" wine. The last is the joker card for a deck I designed in digital drawing class.

Criticism/comments are welcome as always.

Recent

2009-02-23T14:23:00.000-08:00

Duh Duh Duh Digital Duh Drawing

2009-02-04T09:47:00.000-08:00

A movie poster re-design from my digital class. The first is the one I turned in, the second is revised based on feedback from my class. I was experimenting with color in the first one but apparently it wasn't workin' out. I don't think these colors necessarily compliment my style anyhow.

2009-01-29T07:41:00.000-08:00

2009-01-24T12:54:00.000-08:00

School's in session again. I'll try to stop neglecting this like I have been.
Quick digital self portrait.

poop

2008-11-21T13:03:00.000-08:00

Some stuff in my moleskin right now, all from direct observation. Workin on just drawing in straight pen, no pencil. It's gettin there. Slowly.

womp womp

2008-11-12T16:00:00.000-08:00

Ima use this blog to post some art and learn about html. So here's some stuff in no particular order.