Kali Ciesemier
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Mitzi, an American girl attending international school in Tokyo, discovers the mysterious Lost Property Office while searching for her friend Maki’s homework in the sprawling Tokyo subway system. Mitzi gets her own chance to become a Finder like Mr. Motomeru and his nephew Yuki, and she soon learns that there’s more to Finding than traveling through space-time!
My illustrations for The Lost Property Office, a two-part young adult short story by Marji Napper in the March and April issues of Cricket magazine. It was a lot of fun to research (Tokyo subway tunnels! Japanese houses! Tokyo Station in the 1930’s!) and I’m pleased with the results. I worked on both chunks of illustrations at different times, but I tried to keep the feel and colors relatively tied-together. (I also got to contribute to my long-term goal of inserting cats into illustrations whenever possible)Anonymous asked: I'm really pumped about that Women Warriors zine!! I'm sorry if this has been asked already and I missed it but do you know if it will be available for order online later for those of us that can't make the con?
Good news! It looks like there mayyyy be plans for online orders later on—both Roxie and Abby have put up posts with tentative plans to that effect, so stay tuned to their tumblrs for updates! (my fingers are crossed!)
nadlythenarwhal asked: I am a really big fan of your work! I love your clean lines and crisp colors, and I think you stage pictures really well. I suppose I have two questions. First, how/when did you develop your artistic style? I'm desperate to get mine. Second of all, if you use computer graphic programs/tablets, which one do you recommend for a beginner?
Hi there, thank you!
I think style is something that continues to develop—my work now looks different from the work I had when I graduated (and the work I had as a senior was different from the work I had as a sophomore), but that’s not a bad thing, it’s only natural.
The best advice I got style-wise was not to worry about it! If you keep drawing in a way that you enjoy, over time, all the pictures you create will start to naturally form your style—like figuring out the mean from a sum of numbers. Be patient with yourself.
I don’t know if I have any beginner-specific recs, but I use a wacom intuos tablet, which has always worked for me, and I’ve heard good things about the Monoprice tablets too (which are cheaper, and seem to have better sensitivity than the Bamboo). Program-wise, Photoshop may not be super easy to start off with, but it’s probably the most important graphic program you should know, and the only one I use!
So psyched to be in the Lady Knights//Women Warriors zine, all the contributions look RAD. Thanks to Abby, Julia, and Roxie for putting it all together—they’ll be selling at MoCCA!
I’ve always had a thing for mysterious heroes, and my recent love affair with motorcycle ladies continues. (this one is a bosozoku bike!) When I was asked to be in the zine, I was already thinking about making a book of my own women warriors…I’m even more excited now, so we’ll see!
Before spring swings into full bloom, I wanted to share a postcard I created for french fashion designer Anne Fontaine! I previously drew a Bastille Day postcard and it was fun to work with them again on a holiday-season mailer! This time the postcard features one of their new winter coats and bags, frolicking around a snowy Arc de Triomphe. More process on my blog!
HI-FIVES
I’m on Vine now, you guys!
Check all these out, they are gorgeous!! (and strangely satisfying to me)Windows of New York by Jose Guizar:
A fun one for MentalFloss magazine’s Jan/Feb issue! 50 Berkeley Square is a London townhouse believed to be haunted as far back as the mid 1800’s—the reclusive owner at the time let the place fall apart, and there are tales of ghosts there that have frightened visitors to death!
The article is about whether the mysterious owner, Mr. Myers, was actually the inspiration for Dickens’ Miss Havisham from Great Expectations. My AD wanted an image of a modern person exploring a decayed & spooky Georgian style townhouse, so here you have it! More on my blog.
justinrripley asked: I love the pieces you've made using informal subdivision! I was just wondering, is there any incorrect way to divide your page? I have only read the basic theory about the golden spiral and compositional errors (your tutorial on composition has been especially useful!), but I was just wondering if you use some type of planned method to create the subdivisions? Or is it totally random? Thanks!
Aw, thank you, I’m happy to hear that! And yes, there is a certain way to make an informal subdivision—it was developed by Andrew Loomis, and he included instructions on how to do it in his Creative Illustration book (newly reprinted!) I included a scan of his instruction page in my first i.s. post—check it out here and make one yourself!
Hey, look! It’s our living room/studio! (and my inscrutable Norwegian pin, after the jump!) Big thanks to Steve Kim for stopping by!Supersonic Visits:
Supersonic recently had the chance to visit the awesome joint studio of Kali Ciesemier and Sam Bosma. Sam and Kali are both graduates of the excellent art school MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art) and live in Baltimore (And teach at MICA - I wish I had had them as my teachers). The two artists explore a broad range of different ideas and themes throughout their bodies of work. Kali works exclusively digitally while Sam goes through a thumbnail and sketch process, sometimes coloring with traditional paint and sometimes painting with Photoshop to finish his work. Check out a multitude of images of their studio after the jump:
