Kali Ciesemier
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Hey guys! 3 things:
First, thank you for all the support & good vibes on here! I really appreciate it, and I hope you’re all having a lovely day, respectively.
Second, I wanted to post my cover illo/design for an upcoming issue of Domestic Etch magazine! The theme was “The Past”, and of course I wanted to draw a medieval alternate reality! It was a while back, but I’m very happy to report that my cover was featured in the Society of Illustrators editorial show this year (along with this piece, and this one!)
Third, I updated my print store with a bunch of new pieces, including my Domestic Etch cover (minus the type), the rest of the images you see here, and more! Inprnt has seriously amazing print quality—the colors SUPER ACCURATE—so check ‘em out if you need to fill some wall space with lady space marines or floating donuts!
Wow! It’s already been 2 weeks since my MAKE 2013 weekend illustration workshop at Light Grey Art Lab, but I still get the warm-and-fuzzies when I think of all my awesome participants and and the LGAL crew! What an amazing experience all-around.
You can check out Light Grey Art Lab’s great blow-by-blow writeup of the workshop here and peek at all the photos that were taken that weekend here! (which is where I got all these photos from!) I just put up a big blog post full of images from the weekend, as well as a few important thoughts that I took away from the workshop, you can read it in its entirety here! To summarize, some key things I learned: 1. Everyone is awesome! 2. Each person has different goals and different timelines. Comparison is a misleading and often unhealthy tool—each person has different needs and different steps, no need to race. 3. Artists love to make things hard on themselves, but sometimes do so needlessly. Don’t feel like you’re the only one struggling—everyone feels unsuccessful sometimes! Self-criticism and self-doubt is healthy & needed, but allowing yourself pride and forgiveness is just as important! 4. Sharing your resources is one of the best ways to learn about other people and also yourself. Most of my illustration breakthroughs have come from teaching, when I’m consciously thinking about my image creation process and how others do it, the decisions I make and why, and how I can present and expand on them for others. All in all, thanks again to my fabulous participants and my generous hosts! You guys are the best, I had an AMAZING TIME and I hope it’s not our last!
So, this is my contribution to Jenn Woodall’s Sailor Moon zine, Moon Power!
When I first saw Sailor Moon in 5th grade, I was CONVINCED that I would transform into Sailor Moon when I turned 14.
That was before I saw any of the episodes with Sailor Uranus, though. Total badass. If I could choose any of the Sailor Scouts to be my spirit animal/paragon/motorcycle chauffeur, it would definitely be her.
In the course of drawing this and looking up reference, I have decided that this will not be the last time you see me draw motorcycles. (she’s riding a vintage Ducati) Surprisingly fun!
Update! All filled up, thanks everyone!UPDATE! 1 spot left!UPDATE! 3 spots left!
Hey guys! I just heard that there’s only 5 spots left in my Jan. 4-6 “Resolve to MAKE” illustration workshop at Light Grey Art lab! I’m so excited! :D
If you’ve been thinking of signing up, now’s your chance!
My illustration of the fabulous Iman & Anna Wintour holding a fashion/shopping fundraiser event for Obama! (featuring the campaign’s “Runway to Win” merchandise) Already out in the June 7-13 issue of Time Out Chicago! More on my blog!
I got an anonymous question asking: “Do you illustrate for books, like children’s books?”
I do! I’ve done some textbook illustrations, some cover illustrations (for non-kid’s books) and I illustrated a kid’s activity book for Amtrak last year. I’d love to work on more kid’s or YA books!
Above is a selection of some of the pages from the 32 page activity book. I illustrated every page and hand-lettered all the titles & cover! (the text is missing from the pages in these images, so if there’s a weird blank spot, that’s where the copy would go!)
There was a print run of 150,000, and the books were available on all the Amtrak trains, though I think they may be sold out now. Last year I put up a big post with a bunch more images, explanation, and sketches, on my blog, and now the whole book is available for free download from Amtrak! (click on the “Learning Zone” to find it!)
(Source: ciesemier.com)
Here’s a little madlib for you, “The Illustrator’s Lament”:
No matter how many ( cool objects, people, or scenarios ) I draw, I will still be a ( self adjective ) ( self noun ) who will never ( fanciful action ).
For instance:
No matter how many tough lady space marines I draw, I will still be a cautious nerd who will never fire an interstellar harpoon.
(Source: kalidraws.blogspot.com)
What to do when you’re in your 50’s and still feuding with siblings—an illo for AARP magazine!
Although this is a family tree for an imaginary magenta-haired family, I did manage to slip in both of my wonderful grandmas (the lovely ladies side by side on the orange & chartreuse ovals, respectively). My cat is also making a star cameo appearance! More on my blog.
Hey Kali, how did you get that textured effect on your piece?
I got a variant of that question a couple days ago about the bird piece that I posted, but since I get other questions about my texture use I thought it’d probably be helpful to just make a post on one of the ways I add texture digitally! (the other way I add texture is adding texture scans on top of my piece, using layer modes)
For that bird piece in particular I used a lot of textured brushes that I got from BittBox (you can download a bunch of free packs of brushes that look like paint splatters, brush strokes, watercolor blobs, paper scraps, etc). I like using the brushes as stamps, essentially, stamping and erasing different textures across my piece.
So voila, here’s a walkthrough about how I use clipping masks, brushes as stamps, and the rotate feature in photoshop to add texture:
1.
Okay, here’s a simple setup in photoshop— I have the bird shapes I drew in one layer, and the black lines I drew on top of them in another layer.
2.
I made a new layer on top of my bird shapes layer and below my lines layer, where I’m going to put texture. I right-clicked the new layer and selected “Create Clipping Mask”
3.
This is what the layer box looks like when you create a clipping mask! The clipping mask layer ‘clips’ onto whatever layer is beneath it (in this case, my bird shapes). You’ll see the benefits of this in the next few steps.
4.
My clipping mask layer is selected, and I’m ‘stamping’ a brush in that layer. As you can see, the texture only shows up in the areas occupied by the bird shapes. The clipping mask masks out all the transparent areas of the layer it is clipped to.
5.
I’m still working in the clipping mask layer, using additional brushes to stamp more texture onto the birds. (this is where it becomes helpful to have a big library of brushes/textures!)
6.
Okay, I’ve got all the texture I want at this point. The nice thing about clipping masks is that they’re not permanent— you can release them at any point and they will become a normal layer again. Just so you can see what this looks like, I’m right-clicking on the texture layer and selecting ‘Release Clipping Mask’.
7.
This is what the texture layer looks like when it isn’t clipped to the bird shapes layer!
8.
But no worries, you can always right-click the texture layer again and select “Create Clipping Mask” again, and it will clip to the layer below it again.
9.
I want to add some texture to the background so I created a ‘background texture’ layer beneath the bird shapes layer. I have a texture brush that I want to use, but I want to stamp it in another direction than how it’s currently facing. Once I stamped it I could rotate the texture with the free transform tool, but it’s a little more exciting to rotate the canvas instead! Simply press the ‘r’ button on your keyboard and a little compass appears in the center of your image so you can easily rotate your canvas any way and any time you want in Photoshop CS5. (also helpful for drawing lines in difficult directions)
10.
Okay, I stamped my brush in the direction I wanted in the background texture layer!
11.
And now I’m going to rotate the canvas again and use another texture brush to erase into my stamped texture.
12.
Then I rotated back to normal. Tadaaa! Fast, easy digital texture.
Now go out and have some fun with texture brushes and clipping masks!
(Source: ciesemier.com)
