Spiral Bound.

I've taken a break from the portraits for a bit. I'm actually working on a series right now, as suggested by Ryan Callahan, but I won't disclose the three that I'm working on. I was cleaning out some things last week and found a small 3x5 spiral bound notepad that I've decided to make my sketchbook. It's great because it's so small. I draw in it, tape pictures in it, and write things down like notes and quotes. It's fun! I don't have much done in it, but here are a few cool pages.

Spock!

I saw Star Trek. I'm not a fan of Star Trek. Honestly, I'm more of Star Wars fan myself, but I gave it a shot. I literally clapped and screamed awesome at the end (two of my fellow art friends were in the theatre as well; one of which being Micaela Ruiz). So this is dedicated to Spock. This is a combo of Leonard Nimoy (old Spock) and Zachary Quinto (new Spock). I decided to save myself some clean up time by doing this via photoshop. Live long and prosper!

Graduation Day!

If you had asked me a month and a half ago if I would be graduating, the answer would've been questionable. I had such a rough semester that I honestly didn't think I would be graduating. I hadn't done much work (well I did, but it was terrible) and my attendance wasn't that great, but at the end, I cranked the volume from 0 - 10 and worked my butt off! I created an entire body of new work (the portraits) and I made up for my lacking attendance by helping the department set up for the student show (that debuts tomorrow). All of the hard work paid off when I walked across that stage and took my family and friends to see my wall (pictured below). It was a real treat seeing everyone's walls finished and congratulating one another on 4+ years of hard work and dedication to our school and craft. Tomorrow is opening night. I really hope I sell some work, but I'm excited for everyone to see it. 2009 is flying by and graduating from CCS is my biggest achievement yet. Thank you to everyone that has supported me along the way.



Also, I was interviewed and featured in the most recent issue of "C" which is the alumni relations magazine through CCS. Matt Chung and Bailey Isgro were also featured; everything's on pages 4 & 5. You can check it out by click HERE!

MJ & Wall-E.

I had some extra spots on my senior wall that needed to be filled so I planned on pulling an all nighter last night, BUT exhaustion got the best of me and I fell asleep only to wake up at 9 this morning and FREAK OUT. We had to have our walls finished by noon and I still had 2 pieces to do so I set to work! In 2 hours, I busted out both of these! I apologize for the pictures, but I didn't have time to scan them so I took a quick picture and left to finish setting up at school. Michael Jackson ruled during his Thriller era and Wall-E killed the big screen with his debut.

These two characters along with the others I've been posting will be for sale at the College for Creative Studies' Student Exhibition Opening this friday through the end of May. I'm selling the originals in really cool frames for only $80 each! Stop by, see my wall, enjoy the work, and direct people toward it! If nothing else, stop by and say hi! I graduate tomorrow and Friday is the opening so the next post will have pictures of graduation/opening night. I'll come up with a new piece by Monday so stay tuned for that. Enjoy the work and have a fun weekend everybody!

P.S. If anyone has any cool ideas or any suggestions for pop culture icons, please feel free to leave me a comment. I'll take all requests into consideration.

Alf!

As the pickiest human being on the planet, pizza is my favorite food. However, Alf's favorite food is cats. I don't like cats myself (as food I mean), but I'm not an Alien Life Form so I guess I wouldn't. This is America's favorite alien (ET comes in a close second), Alf!

I graduate in 2 days. It hasn't hit me yet, but I am nervous and excited and a little bit scared. Regardless, I will be crying my eyes out so get ready for THOSE pictures! Also, I have been working hard on putting my senior wall up so I will post pictures of that after graduation.

See everyone at the show!

Larry King.

America's favorite interviewer; Larry King.

Joaquin Phoenix.

Although Joaquin Phoenix flipped out awhile ago on Letterman, I decided it was still pretty necessary to create a portrait of him. I found this really great picture of him online and I cut his hands out and used them in this portrait because I think it helps the whole crazy angle. I don't know if Joaquin is crazy, but he is GREAT and it's all because of this guy that I got my spark back. Thanks, Joaquin.

Also, I received an email & did an interview. You can read it if you'd like HERE.

Wolverine & Susan Boyle.

I'm all about Celebrity Portraiture/Iconic figures. That's what the next couple of weeks are going to be about. Let's start things off with Wolverine and Susan Boyle. I just look at this piece of Wolverine and I laugh so hard because of his muscles and his claws and I love Susan Boyle because she is Britain's under dog. It's all about mixed media these days. Rock and roll.

Obama-Rama!

I started this piece back in January and just got around to finishing it up. I was fortunate enough to actually attend the inauguration with my long time friend, Zack, and what an event it was. I've never been much into politics, but I've always been a fan of history and to say that I was at an event like this was overwhelming for me. I also think the fact that it was an unplanned adventure added to it being overwhelming; in a good way.



I did this using ink and a nib and I also used acrylic and cut paper.

The following is from Obama's inauguration speech. It was pretty inspirational/moving to hear it in real life and to be surrounded by over a million Americans, all eager to stand together, and believe as a whole. People eager to believe that things can change and, over time, they will.

In reaffirming the greatness of our nation, we understand that greatness is never a given. It must be earned. Our journey has never been one of shortcuts or settling for less. It has not been the path for the faint-hearted, for those who prefer leisure over work, or seek only the pleasures of riches and fame.

So let us mark this day in remembrance of who we are and how far we have traveled. In the year of America's birth, in the coldest of months, a small band of patriots huddled by dying campfires on the shores of an icy river. The capital was abandoned. The enemy was advancing. The snow was stained with blood. At a moment when the outcome of our revolution was most in doubt, the father of our nation ordered these words be read to the people: "Let it be told to the future world that in the depth of winter, when nothing but hope and virtue could survive, that the city and the country, alarmed at one common danger, came forth to meet it." America, in the face of our common dangers, in this winter of our hardship, let us remember these timeless words; with hope and virtue, let us brave once more the icy currents, and endure what storms may come; let it be said by our children's children that when we were tested we refused to let this journey end, that we did not turn back nor did we falter; and with eyes fixed on the horizon and God's grace upon us, we carried forth that great gift of freedom and delivered it safely to future generations.

Epic Return.

I bet everyone thought I died. I did for awhile. I was fighting with myself and everything around me and I was stopping myself from producing any work because I was scared of my future. After a little, well a LOT, of ME time, I'm back. In fact, I'm back with a vengeance! I've come to terms with my life and my work and although I'm still uncertain about things, I'm happy to be graduating and I'm happy with the direction my work is headed. This entire year I've been fighting what I really enjoy doing. I've been trying to paint, I've used colored pencils, I did pen and ink, and a whole lot of other things in between, when all along, I was ignoring what I truly enjoyed and what I truly enjoy is cutting things out of paper. I've taken it to a new level and I now paint paper and cut that out, but the thing is; I see things in shapes and I like to make shapes and cut them out. It's FUN and I thoroughly enjoy it; I LOVE IT. So, it took me until the end to have a moment of clarity and, by then, I had an entire semester's worth of crap-work and I decided to get rid of all of it and do a bunch of cut outs and they looked better than all five of my paintings combined. I've got a long way to go and I know that, BUT I feel great about everything and I'm excited to show you what I've been working on. Forgive me for my absence (yet again), but I'm back for GOOD.

Now that I'm back, please check back often. Updates are just around the corner. I'm happy to be back and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone's been up to. I know some people have added me while I've been away for almost 3 months. If you added me and you don't see your name on my list, leave me a comment!

Happy end of the semester everyone.
Take a break, you've earned it, but get back into it!

The first piece was circus themed done in illustrator and photoshop. The second piece was for the Detroit Zoo and I did it in Photoshop. I didn't get to turn it in, but it was still cool and I did the piece anyway.

Stephen Schudlich.

I have no excuse for being absent. I have just been taking some time off. After almost 3 months, I think I'm back in the game.

This week; MAKE A STEVE. TAPE IT UP!

Giacometti!

For our final piece in Senior Studio, I wanted to play around with my cut paper idea, but instead of regular paper, I decided to paint paper and then cut it out. I drew the hands on wallpaper with pencil and cut those out and the eyes belong to Elvis Costello. I thought they were perfect. I think the concept behind this piece is really interesting so I'm going to share it here. It's one thing to see an image and it's another to understand the idea behind it. This is based off of a blind contour I did of the swiss sculptor, Giacometti. In Art History, I learned that he was a really stand up guy and everyone liked him, but it was later discovered (I don't remember how) that every time he met a woman, he would think of ways to kill her. So with this piece, I wanted to make his eyes and hands the focal point. I originally had eyes for him, but I thought that these eyes were better because it's as though he has masked intentions and the fact that these eyes are looking off might give someone a questionable feeling (maybe anxiety?) and his hands have rough, sketched lines because he was a sculptor and relied on his hands (but also wanted to kill women with his hands). I did a lot of messing around in photoshop so this is Tradigital (traditional and digital) and I think I am going to explore this process further over Christmas break.

I hope everyone enjoys their holiday.
Keep the art coming!

Robots Revisited.

I am revisiting the robots. What can I say, I love them. I reprinted them and wanted a silkscreened look and, most importantly, I wanted color. The color is done using watercolor. So, I'm done with this set. I'll have to draw a new set over break.
This past Saturday was Noel Night here in Detroit and it's one of the most festive nights EVER. Anyway, my good friend Chris Houghton was doing caricatures and he offered to do one of me, for me! What a treat. He did a fantastic job and I gave him the liberty to give me a really red nose (in reference to Joe Sorren or the Puffs commercials; depending on how you look at it).
I'm really starting to notice how small the network is around these parts. Mike and Vince were talking about filling a sketchbook over break and Vince told me about it and I told Chris. There's so much word of mouth happening around these parts. I'm just starting to realize how well it works. As for the challenge, I might just try to fill a sketchbook over break. It would take me so much work to do it, but I think it'd be worth it. I am also going to be doing one piece of art a day and posting it to my blog over break (like Chris Houghton's Dailies).

In 4 days I will be comatose for about 3 days.
Then I will wake up and do some work.

Long Time, No See!

Indeed it has been a long time. This is an experimental piece that ended up being my senior studio piece. This semester my work hasn't really been that cohesive, but at least I'm not being a stick in the mud!

So, my website still needs some tweaking, but here it is.
My website that made me cry and hate the past week: CHELSEA KIRCHOFF

New work to come once I recover from school this week.

Get Em While They're Hot!

This was more of an experiment/challenge than anything else. I wanted to try to fuse the drawing with the cut out technique. I also wanted to make the grill using silver foil to see how it would translate once scanned. I like Tony. I would probably buy one of those sno-cones from him.