• About
  • Digital Magazines
    • Fall
    • Summer
    • Winter
  • Interview: Fantasy Artist Lisa Cyr

The Illustrators Journal

The Illustrators Journal

Tag Archives: artists

Tahoe Activist Artists Fight Back

14 Thursday Sep 2017

Posted by Illustrators Journal in EDITORIAL, INTERVIEW

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Art Activism, artist as brand, artists, artwork, digital painting, drawing, illustrators journal, innovation


I had the pleasure of talking to Shelley Zentner yesterday, a fine artist whose work is clearly steeped into the classic form as embodied by DaVinci, Michelangelo, Raphael and others.

Shelley and other artists living in Northern California’s winter paradise, Lake Tahoe, CA have banded together to show their resistance artistically to the current government’s policies as personified by Donald Trump. The Illustrators Journal’s Gregg Masters was at a recent meeting of the creative group and was inspired and encouraged by this tiny faction of brilliant people who are taking on the powers that be they only way they know how to do it. Through their ART.

Both Gregg and I are looking forward to working with Shelley and the group and look for our up coming coverage of Shelley and the Tahoe Activists Artist Group in the Winter Edition of the Illustrators Journal

What I’ve Learned From Other Illustrators

12 Thursday Apr 2012

Posted by Illustrators Journal in EDITORIAL

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

artist as brand, artists, digital media, digital painting, drawing, Greg Spalenka, innovation, levinland, modern art, nude sketch, Obama, Peter Sis, politicians, Romney, Roxie munro, Santorum, twitter


artwork by Peter Sis

I had the distinct pleasure of talking with Peter Sis on the phone yesterday after our radio interview on “This Week In Digital Media”. I was surprised by his openness and his willingness to share his thoughts with me. After all he has won The Robert F. Sibert Medal, Newberry Awards and Caldecott Honors. Shouldn’t he be more guarded and careful about who he talks to and why?

I have found that people like Peter and Roxie Munro, Greg Spalenka and others I’ve interviewed are open to discussing art, illustration and their views on life. This is a valuable lesson for artists. Some of us work in our studios or homes by ourselves and have no real interaction with humans for days on end. I spend most of my days on Skype with my partner Gregg. Not that we talk but just knowing he’s there helps me keep my sanity as I work away. I also have my two wonderful retrievers at my side when they’re not digging up the backyard. It’s a joy for me to connect with great people and great talents. I learn from them and I grow stronger. What I’m saying to you all is reach out and connect with other artists, not only in a social media way but in a personal way. If you admire an illustrator, call up or email and tell him/her. They will usually respond. Don’t let your fears stop you. Acknowledge that they exist and do it anyway. More often than not it will turn out positive and you’ll have made a new friend and colleague like I have with Peter, Roxie and Greg.

I posted this piece of art from Peter’s “Congregation of Birds” book. To me it symbolizes a lot of what I’m saying. “Fly together and we are one big beautiful bird”. That is at the core of the “Illustrators Journal’s mission. To bring artists together to share what we know with others and hopefully they will share back. Look, I used to be cynical about all this “touchy feely reach out stuff” but I’m born again in that sense. The more we share and know the better we all will be as artists and humans. It’s through our creativity and production that we enlighten and shine a light for others to see. (are you listening politicians?) So pick up the phone or email someone you don’t know who you want to connect with and see what happens. You just might be surprised.

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 994 other subscribers
Follow The Illustrators Journal on WordPress.com

BlogTalk Radio

//percolate.blogtalkradio.com/offsiteplayer?hostId=201663

Latest Tweets

Tweets by cre8tivehouse

Blogroll

  • ArtTodayTV
  • BrandChatTV
  • This Week in Digital Media
  • Xanate Media

Editor’s Note

Visit www.levinlandstudio.com and see the portfolio of the editor Lon Levin

The Spring Issue '17 of the Illustrators Journal will be out in April with all new interviews with cartoonist Mark Stamaty, Fantasy artist and Society of Illustrator's Hall of Fame artists Kinuko Y Craft and some artwork from Millenial sensation MollyCrabtree.

The issue will focus on protest and the arts from Daumier to Ingram Pinn.

Levinland Studio

Levinland Studio

Blog Stats

  • 249,098 hits

  • Follow Following
    • The Illustrators Journal
    • Join 162 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • The Illustrators Journal
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...