Texan Gothic / DSVC Dallas Awards

I'm honored that a batch of my self-promotional 'Texan Gothic' series and MFA thesis illustrations were awarded a bronze medal at last night's annual DSVC juried show!  (The thing itself is a solid bronze lightbulb that has to weigh nearly 5 pounds!)  This was my first time to attend a DSVC event, and I was immediately blown away by the caliber of work that was on display.  The Dallas Society of Visual Communication assembles some remarkable talent, and there had to be close to 500 people there!  

The exhibition and formal awards dinner was an impressive event with designers, creative directors, illustrators, educators, and other industry titans in attendance.  Fossil's Senior VP Tim Hale won the Golden Egg lifetime achievement award, with previous winners including Stan Richards of The Richards Group and illustrators Jack Unruh and Bart Forbes (both of which were guest lecturers for my graduate MFA class in March 2012).  All in all, a very classy event!

I'm honored to be involved and look forward to meeting more folks in years to come.  Thanks very much to the Dallas Society of Visual Communications, guest judges, and to the Hartford Art School low residency MFA in llustration program! 

I'm encouraged and excited to share the full series after graduation next month!

Plesiosaur - Dinosaur Illustration

Here's a plesiosaur working on a snack!  I recently drew this illustration for a dear friend, being her favorite of our dinosaur ancestors.  It was fun to transcribe my prehistoric obsession underwater for a change!  Good opportunities here for gritty grey tones and squiggly shapes.  This is something I'd like to explore further down the line to really push the textures and lighting some more. 

ArtHash Open Salon Show

Last night's gallery opening of the ArtHash Open Salon Show at Kettle Art in Deep Ellum was a total blast!  Incredible turnout and so much great art.  Thanks to everyone who came out to say hi, have a drink, and look at everyone's work.  Great to meet so many new friends and fellow Dallas contemporaries.

Happy Friday the 13th, Campers!

Happy Friday the 13th, Salute Your Shorts fans!

'Lobotomunny' - Custom Vinyl Munny

I recently took part in my first vinyl toy show, celebrating Atama's 1 year anniversary at Strangeways in Dallas with 'Show Me The Munny 2'.  Being my first first foray into customized vinyl toys, it was a great opportunity to meet some very talented Dallas artists and stretch beyond my usual territory of pen & ink illustration work.  

'Lobotomunny' in context... some serious talent around here!

I had fun working in an unfamiliar medium while retaining the tone of my drawings.  Our challenge was to start with a blank Munny doll and customize it in any way we saw fit, be it through paint, sculpting, deconstructing, or any other wacky method that came to mind.

Somewhere along the lines I decided to crack its head open and sculpt a removable brain using Sculpey polymer clay, followed by sharpie drawing on the head, and finally a custom fabric hospital gown.  I had fun putting together the wooden sawblade base as a final touch.

show flyer with shots of the removable brain and gown

The show was a fun and valuable experiment for me, and I'm now getting involved in Vinyl Thoughts 2: The Next Level, a video game themed toy show this March... in which I'll be sculpting my piece entirely from scratch!

Screen-Printed Scarves

While learning the screen-printing ropes and testing some shirt designs, I got the wild hair to design some scarves as well.


I managed to pull those together faster than the shirts, which are soon to follow.  I'm really excited about these and had to share...

I'm always impressed by the high quality of what other artists are selling on Etsy.com, and I've been itching for a long time to have a product worthy of my own shop.  And that's a large part of what finally nudged me into screen printing.  

Check out the Etsy Shop and dress to depress!

DIY Screen Printing

keeping it DIY... my hand-made one-color press

I'd been itching to design and print my own line of shirts from age 10, and now as a late-twenties illustrator, graphic designer, and MFA student with a curious energy to spare, the timing felt right.

I spent a couple weeks initially researching the logistics of doing this from my one-bedroom apartment while making up lists of materials and processes. 

Screen printing is deceptively complex... a massively multi-step process and an art in and of itself.   Much more akin to darkroom photography and traditional printmaking than making a quick digital copy, there are multitudes of steps and variables to account for within each piece of the broader puzzle. Very involved, in so many words.  Fortunately I am a very process oriented person and enjoy subjecting myself to masochistic projects. It's strangely meditative for me.

a small sample of supplies

A benefit of my working in black and white is that the drawings translate really well to one-color printing. As my aesthetic and process have gotten more consistent this year, it suddenly occurred to me that hand-printing shirts and posters would be a natural creative outlet for me (with added selling power) that would harken back to my undergrad foundation in photography and printmaking.

With a couple hundred bucks in materials and a handful of hours reading forums and watching YouTube, I got myself off to a good start, more or less.

The experience hasn't been without forehead slapping failures, but the learning process has been so rapid that any expense in ruined shirts is worth the price of admission. The way I see it, if I'd be willing to pay for a class, why not eat the cost in materials and teach myself on the job?

So after some early failures I pulled plans off the Internet and built myself a new one-color press out of 2x4s and plywood.  So far so good!


Check out my ETSY shop as I continue to post new items... 

Screen-Printed Scarf Concepts

A great thing about my propensity for working in black and white is that my drawings translate nicely to red/blue 3D and to one-color screen-printing.  

While teaching myself to expose the screens and print on textiles, I'm (sloppily) building myself a new one-color press that should really speed things up and cut back on misprints.  I'm doing all of this out of my one-bedroom apartment, so keeping it clean, organized, and in consistent quality are all high priorities.  This is easier said than done between the full-time design job, graduate studies, hobbies, social life, and down time.

So in the middle of all of this, I've been plotting scarf designs. I'm excited to get everything under control and organized for the launch of my web-store, which will feature hand-printed shirts, scarfs, and posters of my original illustrations and designs.

The end goal is to turn a fun DIY project into a consistent, high-quality outlet for my illustrations and designs... something I can be confident bringing to the public through the web, art/craft fairs, and beyond.

Revamped Portfolio Site!

Quick update!  I've revamped my official website and portfolio, highlighting my latest pen & ink illustrations, adding a print store, and even more exciting... a 3D section!  I've got a nice batch of 3D glasses if anyone needs them, just drop me a line and I'll mail you a pair!  Check it out! www.AlbrightIllustration.com