Look At This F*cking Illustration!

So Hipsters are all the rage nowadays! (Or at least making fun of them is)
I have recently become addicted to the site, Look At This Fucking Hipster. It's hilarious!
Spending a good amount of my summer in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, I've come in contact with quite a few hipsters. Whether you love them or hate them, you have to admit they are entertaining to look at!
I think it's time illustrators embrace Hipster-ism (i think that's a word?)
Even Superman has gotten a Hipster makeover! See it HERE or check out this simple yet great piece by illustrator, Alisa Yang HERE.

I think I'm going to call this piece, "Trapped by a Trend" since sometimes it seems like they can be incarcerated by their own lifestyle. I wish I could do another painting so I could fit the PBR beer and his Asian girlfriend. Anyway enjoy!



http://christiancastroart.com/

Passion for Fashion?

I wouldn't call this a fashion illustration. It doesn't have the traditional fashion illustration body proportions. But I don't think that's always necessary. J. C. Leyndecker is famous for his Saturday Evening Post covers but much of his success came from his fashion illustrations. This includes his famous "Arrow-Collar Man" I''m sure he helped sell thousands of shirts with that one all while painting people realistically.

So I guess this is more of an image influenced by fashion illustrations. I've been looking at a lot of Cole Phillips works. I don't think I'll ever get tires of his fade away girls. Thus I made my own:



It's done in pencil with blue India ink in sketchbook. I keep painting in my sketchbook. It's just so compact and convenient! Till next week bloggers!

As Tall As Lions

For those of you who don't know, one of my favorite bands is As Tall As Lions. You can listen to some of their stuff HERE. I was lucky enough to watch them perform back in the summer of 08.
Unfortunately a few months ago they announced that they were breaking up and are currently doing a farewell tour . So I pay my tribute to them the best way I know how- by painting their portraits.

So Cheers to a great band with great music! Best wishes to Julio, Saen, Cliff and Dan on their future projects!



http://christiancastroart.com

NEW WEBSITE!

Hey everyone! After months of hard work mixed in with procrastination, my new website is finally up and running! So make sure to check it out when you get a chance and tell all your art friends about it!

CLICK HERE or even HERE to see it or just go to http://christiancastroart.com

Frustration

The past few weeks have been pretty difficult. I injured my ACL in my right knee and had to go to the emergency room, thus forcing me to stay home and be unable to work. Therefore I'm currently unemployed (again). Plus I missed all of Illustration Week.

But on the bright side (if any) I've found more time to work on my portfolio as well as some personal pieces. This mixed media piece I did in my sketchbook pretty much sums up how I have felt these past few weeks. It's pencil, and acrylic on gessoed sketchbook.



Until next time...

Society of Illustrators Lecture

So last week I was asked to give a lecture at the Society of Illustrators regarding interning at the Society and what I have gotten out of it. I was accompanied by former interns and now illustrators, Jess Yeomans, and Johnny Dombrowski as well as current interns Kerry Campbell and Darci Shea.
We had a great turn out form dozens of college students. Hopefully my speech was helpful!


This picture was taken as I was speaking. I'm the one in the front wearing the plaid shirt. My head is tilted. That's how you know I was in the zone!

EPIC Design

So there's this amazing place called the Society of Illustrators for those of you who live under a rock. This place has a new group called the Empowered People of the Illustration Community (EPIC) Students and recent graduates from several art colleges around the country were asked to design an illustrated version of the EPIC logo (or the "pencil E" as I like to call it)
Here is my design I submitted to represent FIT:


The design was inspired by the airforce art show which was showcased at the Society this past month. The above illustration will be showcased during the 2010 Educators Symposium at the Society of Illustrators taking place this upcoming weekend! Stay tuned. I will have a lot more information about EPIC coming soon including how you can join. Feel free to follow this blog!

Picasstro

I think one of the best things an illustrator can do is not just look at the work of other contemporary illustrators but the work of fine artists from the past. I was fortunate enough to see the Pablo Picasso exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art a few months ago. (It was great) While there I viewed Picasso's "The Harlequin" which is my favorite painting done by him. I think its a good exercise to create your own version of a classic work of art so that's what I decided to do. This is what happens when Christian Castro's art and Pablo Picasso's art have a crazy love child:



Castro's Harlequin

Original "Harleguin" by Picasso may be seen HERE

I took some artistic liberties and changed some of the colorss / shapes. After all it is MY version of it. (In case you are wondering- Yes I gave him a shape up) I might do another one of somebody else's painting. Its a fun exercise to do in between working on illustration commissions or portfolio pieces.

**Please follow this blog if you would like to see more random works of art! Take care**

Shakira = Muy Bueno

Here's a drawing I did of Shakira. Why? Because it's SHAKIRA! Enjoy : )





That should keep you entertained while I work on my website a bit more.
**SPEAKING OF AMAZING ART, check out my untitled piece being displayed on the Creative Quarterly online gallery HERE. **

Tin-Tan T-shirT

I recently did a quick commission for a T-shirt design. I did a portrait of iconic Mexican comedian / actor, Tin Tan. If you're unfamiliar with his work, here is a quick video. Enjoy:


http://christiancastroart.com/

ISS: India

Here's another piece from my International sketch series (ISS) This one is of a statue from India. I usually find a statue I like, draw it for a few minutes and move on to the next one. Enjoy:

International Sketch Series

I've decided to start a new series of drawings within my sketchbook. I spend so much time drawing the sculptures at the Metropolitan Museum of Art that i might as well post them up. My goal is to draw something from as many different countries as possible. Since I can't afford to travel around the world I can at least draw things from around the world. So here are the first 2 from my International Sketch Series (name subject to change)
Lets begin with a sketch of a Greek sculpture:

Now lets jump to Africa! Here is one from New Guinea:


More sketches to come. Please feel free to suggest any countries you would like to see!

"Welcome to Disney!"

Happy August bloggers!

So about 2 weeks ago I attended ICON 6 in Pasadena, California and it was amazing! While there I was lucky enough to meet Dawn Rivera-Ernster who happened to be the Talent Development Director at Disney Animation Studios! She was nice enough to invite me and my friend, Yuquan Tan on a tour of the Disney Studios! Here I am at the main entrance:
During the visit I was fortunate enough to be joined by a group of talented illustrators including Hanoch Piven, Edel Rodriquez, Yuquan Tan, and my former professors, Melanie Reim and John Jay Cabuay. Here is a picture of all of us:


Photographs weren't allowed inside so I could only take some outside the studio. But inside the studios were covered in murals, original sketches of Disney characters were taped to the walls, arcade machines were found randomly throughout the building, free coffee, water bottles and fruits were set on tables for the taking. I saw drawings for my favorite Disney movies (Lion King, & Aladdin) along with concept art for movies still in the works (which I don't know if I can mention) In the lower levels there were even painting studios where a live painting class was taking place. (Their saw horses were a lot better then the ones I used while at FIT) Even as we walked down the hallways, we would be greeted with friendly faces saying, "Hi, welcome to Disney!" It was an amazing experience. I would love to work in an environment like that and if character design, concept art, animation or character art is your thing than I highly recommend working for Disney (eventhough I'm sure you all already knew that.)

Till next time, bloggers!

Tiny sketch

So I usually draw in my 9x12 inch sketchbook but lately i've been experimenting with a smaller more "travel sized" book. It's only 4 x 6 inches. It felt awkward at first but I'm getting the hang of it. I visited the Society of Illustrators sketch night a little while ago and tried some figure drawing. Here are a few. The poses range from 1 minute to 15 minutes. More posts coming soon, including one about my trip to the Disney Animation studios and my trip to the Bronx zoo.

ICON 6

Hey bloggers,

In case you're wondering what I've been up to, I just spent the week in the Los Angeles / Orange County area visiting, exploring, learning and most importantly, attending the 6th Illustration Conference (ICON 6). It was an AMAZING experience and I highly recommend it to anyone serious about illustration.

While there I met tons of great people all part of the illustration community including some of my favorite illustrators such as Istvan Banyai, and Hanoch Piven (Here's a picture of Piven and Myself) Plus I met some great new professional artists such as, Angela Dominguez and Sam Werczler. Along with some great up and coming illustrators such as Alisa Yang and Michael Olivo. Check their work out. It's awesome! There are so many others too. I wish I had the time to mention them all!

I even played some soccer with Hanoch Piven, Kyle T. Webster and Edel Rodriquez. ( I managed to score a goal)
There were great lectures that discussed self-promotion, building portfolios, dealing with art directors, and the future of publishing. As a recent graduate It was a great educational experience. I also was lucky enough to receive a free tour of the Disney Animation Studios! Its a long story but a great one. It's worthy of its own blog post so I'll post up pictures next week. It's gonna be a busy week for me now that I'm back so check back often for new updates.

Day and Night

Hi Bloggers! Like most artists, I get inspiration from the sights, sounds, and people around me. Also like most artists, I notice I never really mention my inspiration when displaying my artwork. So that's what I'm doing right now! I'm sure you've all heard the song, "Day and Night" by Kid Kudi a thousand times. It's pretty catchy and has a lot of imagery within the lyrics. I decided to illustrate the song and let everyone see what I see when I hear this song.
In terms of inspiration, I love that video D.A.N.C.E. by Justice. See it HERE in case you don't know what I'm talking about. I love how they use T-shirts to animate the lyrics of the song. Why not use that element in an illustration?

Its still a work in progress (as most of my pieces seem to be nowadays) As always, feedback is appreciated. Should I make the arms more realistic or keep it stylized? Is the Day/night theme clear enough? Let me know what you guys think. Enjoy : )

"Day and Night" Photoshop

The Process

So I realized I should start posting more than just finished pieces on here. A little while ago I did an illustration assigned to me by illustrator / art director Nate Williams a.k.a. Alexander Blue a.k.a. creator of Illustration Mundo. My mission was to illustrate an article describing the Texas Board of Education enforcing religion into their curriculum. Here are the sketches I showed him:


The 3rd sketch ended up being chosen. The only changes requested was that the priest not be a Catholic one since Catholicism isn't the predominant religion in Texas. Its Protestantism. I made the necessary changes and finished the final illustration shown here:


State of Religion
Photoshop / Illustrator

The entire project was executed within 7 days. I love working under pressure in tight deadlines. It prevents me from over-thinking things or getting bored. Special thanks to Nate Williams for all his helpful advice throughout the process.

ILLUSTRATION FUTURO

After several months of planning, last Thursday was the opening reception for Illustration Futuro at the Illustration House. The purpose of the gallery was to promote the future of illustration in a venue famous for showcasing the history of it. I was fortunate enough to have TWO of my illustrations accepted into the show. The opening was a major success and the place was jam-packed! Special shout out to Yuquan Tan and Charles George for helping me in planning the whole event and a thanks to the judges of the show: Melanie Reim, Vincent Difate
and Eric Fowler. Here are some of my favorite pictures of the night:

The gallery filled up fast with eager supporters.



I was also fortunate enough to have the first ever digital illustration to hang on the walls of Illustration House! Here is a pic of me standing next to it.


Special thanks to my friends Kate Feirtag and Tom Stavrinos from the Society of Illustrators as well as Society President, Dennis Dittrich who came to show their support.



Even illustrator, Rich Tu (in red) stopped by at the end of the night to check out the art. It was great talking to him. His advice to Charles and myself was helpful as well as motivational.



I can't say thank you enough to the friendly and generous staff of Illustration House for all their help in setting up this show. While we were hanging the show we had the honor of taking a picture with Illustration House founder, Walt Reed.



For everyone who couldn't make it to the opening, the show is up until April 30th. The Illustration House is open Tuesday- Saturdays. Check website for more info. This was one of the bext experiences in my young career thus far and I know more great things are yet to come. SO STAY TUNED!

MUSICA!

Hi bloggers,
My digital painting entitled, "Painting on Silence" will be exhibited TONIGHT at the PICK music and art festival at Pace University. If you're in the neighborhood make sure to stop by.

ALSO- My piece entitled "Pinata = Happiness" (as seen in previous blog post) was selected to be exhibited in the Illustration Futuro exhibition at the famous Illustration House along with my ferris wheel digital painting (still untitled). Which goes to show you- never underestimate the power of a single image! The opening is this Thursday at Illustration House from 6-9pm. Heres the blog for more info:

http://illustrationfuturo.blogspot.com/

Wall Harmony

Hey blog! So last year I donated an image to be hung in the patients' waiting rooms of the SUNY Optometry Center along with a few other illustrators. After many months of waiting the pieces were finally framed and hung. I visited the location a little while ago with Melanie Reim and Caitlyn Dailey (shown here).

The pieces were printed on 18 " x 24 " paper and hung around 2 floors of the Optometry Center. Many people were already admiring the wide range of art when I arrived there to photograph the pieces. One of them being a little girl who was there with her grandmother. She took quite a liking to Caitlyn : )

Here's a shot of some of the pieces on the wall.

After searching for a few minutes I found my piece! Here's a picture:


Special thanks to Melanie Reim for telling me about this opportunity and for the photographs. I'll never say no to doing art for a good cause. Before we left that day we took a group photo with Caityln, Melanie, the little girl and one of the Directors of the SUNY Optometry Center.

The future is here!

For the past few weeks, I have been trying to put an exhibition together along with fellow Illustrators / friends, Yuquan Tan, Charles George and William Chung. The purpose of this gallery is to showcase the future talent of illustration in the historic location of Illustration House. Here is the link to newly formed blog and the Call For Entries Poster:



http://illustrationfuturo.blogspot.com

It's only the beginning

So for those of you who remember my ferris wheel digital painting that I blogged about a few months ago, it was accepted as a runner-up in the Creative Quarterly 19 student illustration competition. Here is the piece one more time and the link to the site that shows all the winners in all the categories:


http://www.cqjournal.com/winners.html#runnerup

The forgotten borough

So a few weeks ago I went on the Staten Island ferry for the first time! I've been living in NYC all my life but never had a reason to go on it. To celebrate the occasion I decided to draw one of the people on the boat in my sketch book. More updates coming very soon!

Dick

So here's an illustration I did based on an article about former Vice-President, Dick Cheney. The article discussed how Cheney was interviewed by the FBI and responded to 72 of the questions with, "I do not recall."

I don't recall, Mr. Cheney

Photoshop, illustrator

ALSO- Make sure to vote for my fellow illustrator and friend, Charles George Esperanza in a national art competition he is currently taking part in. Click HERE to vote. 5 stars is a nice number.

I'm not lazy

So I know I haven't posted anything in forever and a half BUT its ok. Its a new year and now I have more time to dedicate to this blog. I find myself working on projects but not posting them up. I'll make sure to be more consistent with this thing. So check back later tonight and I'll post something... JUST KIDDING. Here's a little something right now:

This is a personal project I did as a Christmas gift to my friend / interior designer, Elizabeth Vergara. It's a tribute to Cole Phillips and his fade away girl. I know it 

has been done by everyone nowadays but its good to be inspired by those great artists of the past. Liz is a black belt in Tae Kwon Doe (might be spelled wrong) and karate. Plus she is Peruvian so I tried to incorporate that in the background.  More art is on its way. I promise! Its going to be a productive month for me.