Jen Michel Illustration

Homage to Storm.

2011-05-29T14:11:00.000-07:00

My boyfriend's boss commissioned me to paint a portrait of her friends' cat that they had put to sleep... so here it is... Betcha can't guess what medium ;D

The Neurotic Freak

2010-04-11T19:19:00.000-07:00

So a couple of friends and I had some work featured in a benefit show for an organization called A Rotta Love Plus. They rescue and rehome "dangerous" breeds of dogs like Pit bulls and Rottweilers. You can learn more about their cause here http://www.arottalove.org/

I included "Bailey's Birthday" from my senior project and also made THIS piece of my aunt's other pit bull, Diesel. She and her boyfriend adopted him from a different rescue organization, and he's a giant ween. Hence the text on the image and the title (which is also his nickname). Gouache... but as usual, Blogger has mucked up the colors.

Happy VD Day... (Better late than never)

2010-04-11T19:04:00.000-07:00

This needs a lot of work yet (maybe someday I'll redo the background 'cause there's totally tangent action going on, and the way I handled the text sucks), but c'mon, it's still pretty frickin' awesome... (Pen and digital color)

Angry Toucan?

2010-04-11T18:59:00.000-07:00

I doodled this over a year ago to be carved into a rubber stamp by another student in my Collaborative Printmaking class. I just found him again. He's cute :D (Pen)

Divine Children: A Portrait of the Family Pet -- The FINISHED pieces!

2009-04-28T22:47:00.000-07:00

"Simon Says"
"Felix the Brat"
"Bailey's Birthday"
"Tickles"
"Sydney the Jerk"
"Rat-a-Tat"
"Romeo, Romeo"
"Junky"
"The Fanatic"
"BoBo the Clown"
"Ms. Boop"

Divine Children: Felix the Brat, finished.

2009-04-20T19:41:00.000-07:00

So...which one. Saturated kitty on teal? Saturated on blue? Or the original? (I'm thinking teal... might work better with the other colors when I hang my whole show up...) Unfortunately the saturated ones don't look particularly saturated when I upload them here... bah!

Divine Children: Felix the Brat.

2009-04-16T13:16:00.001-07:00

I played around with colors in this one... the background WAS a very cobalty blue... but I think I MIGHT like this more. Not sure yet.

Divine Children: Some New, Some Finished.

2009-04-14T04:34:00.001-07:00

Introducing Simon, my hate-filled fish and a couple old guys with new text!
The colors got super dulled on Simon.

Divine Children: Creepy Uncle Curly.

2009-04-02T19:41:00.000-07:00

A weirdo portrait of Charles. Yes, I love him.

Divine Children: Gizmo

2009-03-13T02:35:00.000-07:00

Inspired by my own persian, Gizmo.

Divine Children: Roy.

2009-03-11T04:19:00.000-07:00

And here is my rat, Roy (RIP). Do I really need to mention what medium?

Divine Children, Again.

2009-03-10T01:07:00.000-07:00

Another addition to the group: Betty Boop. (Also including good scans of the others - Bailey's Birthday, Sydney the Jerk, and a Cockatoo I will call BoBo.) All gouache, of course.

Divine Children: Senior Project Hopefuls.

2009-02-27T11:43:00.000-08:00

Here are some excerpts from my Senior Project (yup, this is the big one) called "Divine Children: A Look at the Family Pet." Not sure how I feel about them yet, but I'm gonna keep making'em and see who makes the cut in the end.

I'll talk more about the project later. GOUACHE!

My First Monotypes!

2009-02-02T17:57:00.000-08:00

Currently, I am taking an asynchronous online class called Collaborative Printmaking: A Press-Free Approach.

Basically, we'll be making prints, sending them to each other, and then doing things to the ones we receive from our classmates.

We were supposed to try making monotypes and post'em and describe our process, questions, trials, and tribulations.

Here are mine! (made using double sided matte duralar, watercolours, domestic etch proofing paper, and a drawing underneath).

The first one turned out too light. I figured the paper wasn't wet enough. But when I used more saturated paper the second time, it was TOO wet, so it turned out splotchy. In the third, I used blotted the paper and rubbed with my baren harder and longer than the first print but not as long or hard as the second. And I think it turned out pretty well!

Exhibition Opening

2009-01-18T19:08:00.001-08:00

Red-Eyed Vireo.

2009-01-12T21:29:00.001-08:00

Gouache. Bad scan. And the colors are super bad once uploaded here.

Chickadee.

2009-01-12T21:28:00.001-08:00

Gouache. Bad scan. And the colors are super bad once uploaded here.

Scaredy Cat

2008-12-12T02:04:00.001-08:00

I guess I should have posted this a long time ago...

I wanted to remind you to keep your pets safe on Halloween. Acrylic.

His Ass Ain't Hairy (this is ridiculous)

2008-12-12T01:41:00.001-08:00

Created following a random overheard conversation...

Used likenesses of Roxy and Mikey. Vine charcoal and digital color.

Greater Flamingo.

2008-12-10T10:27:00.000-08:00

Gouache/Bad scan again. Of course.

Indigo Bunting.

2008-12-10T03:53:00.000-08:00

They're not great singers, but they each have their own song that differentiates them from one another.

I suck at bird feet... hahaha. OH WELL.

Gouache/bad scan.

Baltimore.

2008-12-09T03:28:00.000-08:00

Did you also know that orioles weave themselves beautiful, hanging basket nests? :D

Another bad scan. Gouache.

Scarlet Tanager.

2008-12-08T20:11:00.000-08:00

Did you know Scarlet Tanagers can "throw" their calls to lure predators away from their nest? Heh... yeah, that's what I thought. By the way... uploading this to here really messed with the colors. BAD.

Gouache/bad scan.

Bookie.

2008-11-29T22:51:00.000-08:00

A portrait of my ridiculous bird. Gouache/bad scan.

The Dawning of the Age.

2008-11-15T11:22:00.000-08:00

Moody Katie Cancer -- the Ocean of Emotion

Myself -- the Aquarian -- marching to the beat of my own drum

and Jason the Leo... for whom love matters most.

Abomination!

2008-11-14T08:50:00.001-08:00

Take this how you will....

If you got what you want, you know how to take it.

If you didn't get what you want, I think you still know how to take it.

Thanks to MCBA and Erik Brandt for getting us out and using woodblock type and letter presses!

Kevindustrial.

2008-11-09T23:41:00.000-08:00

My dear friend likes skunk piss (Heineken).

Ah... so true...

2008-11-03T10:08:00.000-08:00

This is why Katie is my hero. Bad scan.

Gouache.

Smelly Uncle Curly.

2008-11-02T11:42:00.001-08:00

And finally here's a painting worthy of bearing Charles' likeness... do forgive the terrible scan.

Gouache.

And yet another lion...

2008-10-27T16:43:00.000-07:00

An idea for a non-fiction book... bits and bobs about lions. You know, just factoids. Just 'cause.

My favorite name is...

2008-10-27T12:43:00.000-07:00

I'll do some other stuff to this some other time... pattern, more text, etc...

A Work in Progress...

2008-10-20T19:18:00.000-07:00

This is a character I'm developing for Children's...

Haven't settled on a name quite yet, but his story is somewhat too complicated for picture books. He's silver-eyed due to a 'hunting accident' as a youngster, leaving him with (obviously the silver eye), a nice scar, a fear of hunting, and a total lack of self-esteem.

As an adult, he does nothing but travel in an attempt to find his... pride.

That's the short version.

Someday I'll have one of these...

2008-10-19T13:27:00.001-07:00

Needs maybe a little more touching up. I found somethings wrong with it, but eh.

Gouache.

Rauschach Block Party.

2008-10-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

I'll keep it simple...

Had to compile ideas from several local event notices (something about Rauschenberg, a comic convention, a hip-hop dance off, and a street dance) into one illustration limited to pink, green, black, white, and yellow.

Not satisfied with the colors yet -- I was having some issues keeping things consistent but not TOO consistent, and not too chaotic, etc. But I gotta stop somewheres... And yeah, I know it's "Rorschach." It's a play on words, get it?

Crits very welcome!

This is how you teach your bird to talk...

2008-10-10T00:26:00.000-07:00

I guess you could call this instructional...

Kinda sorta loosely based on myself and my own Cockatiel, Sydney.

'Cause I know you were dying to see more old stuff...

2008-10-09T21:54:00.000-07:00

I made this for a promo last year, but it didn't prove very useful. However, I still like the painting a fair amount. Lions are my favorite. And keep in mind, when I uploaded this onto here, the colors got completely messed up! The actual illustration is much warmer.

Acrylic.

Birds of ABC.

2008-10-08T14:40:00.000-07:00

For Children's, our recent focus had been ABC books for the kidz. Something clever yet child friendly. I decided to skip clever altogether, and instead went with a theme both tried and true: Birds.

Of course, that is not to say I went with the most obvious choices as far as birds go. But since we only were required to create four, I hadn't yet gotten crazy with my selections. I don't have the final pieces scanned yet, but here are some initial sketches (which I then used to create the finals...).
I did not use the crow sketch, unfortunately.

Comments are always appreciated, but at this point, probably too late. Of course you can always save'em for when I post the final pieces (maybe).

The Tiger and The Zebra, finished! (Maybe)

2008-09-29T13:55:00.000-07:00

So here's the final linework for the poem spread...

and the final colored illustrations.

Someday I may add some patterning to the wallpaper. We'll see...

As simple as these are, a lot of process went into them! I really surprised myself by the amount of work I put into them. Let me know what you think!

The Tiger and The Zebra.

2008-09-22T04:12:00.000-07:00

Currently working on a spread for a poem written by Kenn Nesbitt called "The Tiger and the Zebra." It's sorta long, so I'm only using the first two stanzas.

Anyway, so far, I just have a couple roughs of what I'm thinking about doing. They still need a lot of work. And I'm thinking about finishing them the way I finished my last piece (mouse and shoe).

Here are my first 'roughs' which were actually only slightly larger thumbnails that I threw some marker on for a test, scanned, blew up, and pieced together just to see if the spread worked.
Then I redrew'em for some legitimate roughs... I plan on a wallpaper pattern in pastel colors behind the zebra, and I'll probably move him to the right to make more room for the text. And I need to work on their phones. PLUS, the room in the tiger's page interferes with where the text will be, so I need to fix that.Your feedback on what could be improved (before the week is out) would be greatly appreciated!

Well, he's not a very smart mouse.

2008-09-14T23:07:00.000-07:00

Ah, Children's book illustration... not exactly the direction I see myself going. But Nancy Carlson, one of my childhood heroes, is actually teaching the Children's book class at MCAD this semester, and I thought it sounded like a great opportunity.

Anyway, the current project was all about imagination. I suppose my image isn't imaginative in a very STRONG way... I'm not into fantasy or anything like that. But I thought a mouse jumping into a shoe would suffice.

Here's the image colored in Photoshop. This is not a way I typically work... but I maybe kinda liked it.

And by the way, you can totally tell I've been watching way too much of The Simpsons lately.

Ew, Gross!

2008-09-14T21:46:00.000-07:00

This is a very recent piece that is probably pretty self explanatory.

If not, I did my own illustration for a weird article about women and their shoes...

The background is acrylic, and the shoes and feet are gouache.

The Dez (more notebook).

2008-09-14T13:53:00.001-07:00

If you're from Minneapolis or the surrounding area, you may have heard about my friend, local comedian and actor, Greg "The Dez" Hernandez.

I went to one of his shows, and although I like him very much, I decided that I didn't think he was very funny...

Notebook.

2008-09-14T13:43:00.000-07:00

Here are quick portraits of some of my friends I did in my "illustrated notebook," which was actually a children's encyclopedia from 1987...

Crazy Carl likes the finer things in life.

Dan sometimes reminds me of some sort of cute chipmunk/squirrel hybrid.

Little Erin (as I call her), my best friend Victor's wife, moved to Minneapolis from Florida to be with her man.

Martina spent one semester with us at the Minneapolis College of Art and Design.

And Tristan always hurts himself while bmxing.

And what now?

2008-09-14T13:15:00.000-07:00

Now, I think I'm just searching for things I've done in the recent past that might be worth putting on here before I start putting up my newer work.

This is a spot illustration for the Russian novel The Master and Margarita. In it, Satan comes to Earth with a bunch of his goons who disguise themselves (one as a giant cat-man named Behemoth). This is my rendition of Behemoth turning into is true form towards the end of the novel. However, I'll admit it does not accurately depict what happens whatsoever. I think I was too influenced by the animal cruelty videos I had seen -- one in particular of a raccoon being skinned alive...

And this is an illustration I did under the idea of "DO own a Winston," with Winston being one of my own dogs who is a more mild mannered Cavalier King Charles than my other two ("DO NOT own a Charles" not included, even though I love him very much).

Now it's time for catch-up...

2008-09-06T17:07:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple illustrations I did of two of my favorite people from the 80's (done in gouache)...

There are six in all. Want to see more? Let me know!

So this is new...

2008-09-05T22:11:00.000-07:00

And I'm kind of dumb with things like this. Hopefully my dear friend Francesca can help me figure this thing out...

But to get things started, I thought I'd share an illustration I did under the idea of "Utopia." Done in vine charcoal (and some watercolor underneath for temperature).