Alec Longstreth Illustration

Swim Team T-Shirt

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 23:07:00 +0000

I recently designed this 3-color t-shirt for a swim team that my Cousin coaches. They are making a trip down to Florida for some intensive training, so I thought it would be good to have a 'gator gag.

AlecLongstreth.com redesign!

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 05:35:00 +0000

Well, after many weeks of toil, I am finally ready to reveal my totally redesigned illustration portfolio website! For those of you actually viewing this blog at its URL, you can just hit some of the new navigation links at the top of the page, and for those of you reading this from an RSS reader, just follow this link!

When I first sat down to redesign the site, I was having trouble trying to figure out what image I wanted to use for homepage. I wanted it to really reflect me and the kind of illustrations I want to be doing. Luckily, I remembered an old piece of advice that Aaron always used to tell the CCS summer workshop students: "you have to draw what you LOVE!" And well, I love drawing wizards and dragons and tree forts. So I cast myself as the wizard and then tried to fill my imaginary tree fort with as many personally meaningful objects as I could, so the space would reflect me. I really like how the image came out, and I don't think there is anyone else on earth (besides me) who could fully understand what every object in the drawing means to me.

Anyway, if you have a minute, take a lap around the new site and please let me know if you find any bugs! ALSO: a huge thanks (as usual) to Nate Beaty for some last minute help tightening up my coding!

Microcosm Publishing 2010 Catalog - Spot Illustrations

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 18:20:00 +0000

As promised, here are the spot illustrations that I did for the upcoming 2010 Microcosm Publishing Catalog. Again, these feature characters from the Isle of Elsi book I'm working on. If you're curious, you can check out their first story over at Dark Horse Presents. The first spot shows Draziw the Wizard making some zines with his wand. If only it was that easy!Next we have Nogard the Dragon and R.J. Jr. delivering some zines!And lastly, for good measure, some of the 'ites (as I call them - actually Stalagmites and Stalactites) mailing off a letter. It looks like some zinesters had their way with that mail box!This one isn't actually going to make it into the catalog, but I thought I'd post it just the same. It depicts one of the wolves giving a ROCK show for all the 'ites. ;)I'm almost done wrapping up a big illustration project, which I will post on here as soon as it's done. There's more on the way!

Microcosm Publishing 2010 Catalog - Cover!

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 00:22:00 +0000

I recently finished up some illustrations for the 2010 Microcosm Publishing Catalog. I thought I'd share the cover image this week and some spot illustrations next week!

For those of you that don't know, Microcosm Publishing is a super awesome zine distributor and publisher. They've been carrying my Phase 7 Comics for years and they have published books by some of my best comics friends. When they asked me if I wanted to draw the cover, they said that I could draw pretty much whatever I wanted, and that it was going to be printed with two colors (score!) I decided to use some of my Isle of Elsi characters from my Dark Horse Presents story that was released back in May.

There have been some great Microcosm Catalog covers in the past, so the first thing I did was look at those to see how some of the other illustrators handled the two color look. I especially liked the ones by my friends Liz Baillie and Sarah Oleksyk but instead of dropping the second color into a black line drawing, I wanted to try and utilize the second color throughout the illustration, so that I could get a variety of lighting and texture effects. Here's what I came up with! (click for a larger view)

Now all I have to do is wait for a printed copy, to see how it all turned out. I'll let you all know once it's out there so you can order your copy (I think they are usually like a penny if you place an order with Microcosm) and like I said, I'll post some spot illustrations from the inside of the catalog next week!

Judge Jasper in Nick Mag!

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 18:32:00 +0000

I received a stack of the latest Nickelodeon Magazine in the mail yesterday, which includes one of my single-panel gags and also a full page comic, called "Judge Jasper." Here is the first panel, to give you some idea what it looks like:As most of you probably know, Nickelodeon Magazine has been canceled and will be ending soon. This issue is pretty light, so I'm not sure how many more are in the pipeline... Maybe it'll go until the end of the year? Anyway, this issue is in bookstores and magazine racks right now if you want to pick up a copy while you still can!

A Lone Tone Album Covers

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 20:37:00 +0000

When I was a freshman in college, I met this remarkable guy named Mark S. Williams. A few years ago he changed his name to "Sudara" and started the incredible music site A Lone Tone. A Lone Tone makes it super easy for anyone to post their own music online, and to share it with the world. Users can upload their recordings and then create digital albums by grouping the songs.

Well, I used to record a lot of music, and I'm trying to get back into it a bit (for a SUPER TOP SECRET PROJECT which I probably won't really talk about for another year or so). So I decided to set up my own A Lone Tone account as a place to archive my old music and hopefully a place to put up NEW music as it starts happening. A Lone Tone allows you to upload an image, which acts as the album cover, so I decided to quickly whip up some cover images for my two albums "The Curtain Tapes" and "My Adventure Soundtrack." I thought I'd post them here for people to see.

Since both recordings were made at very specific times in my life, I decided to adapt single panels from my minicomic Phase 7, which visually describe what the music is also trying to convey. The Curtain Tapes was recorded in Los Angeles, in my room with three walls and a curtain. And My Adventure Soundtrack was recorded while five years of hard work and dreams were crumbling down around me in Sydney, Australia. I chose to depict each of these depressing scenes with just one additional color (besides black) to try and keep it simple.

I'm slowly lining up a few small illustration projects which I will get to as soon as the next issue of Phase 7 drops in early October. So hopefully this blog will see some more action in the last few months of 2009!

An Anaconda Ate My Homework!

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:44:00 +0000

Not only do I work as an illustrator and cartoonist, I am also a colorist! Well, I just found out that An Anaconda Ate My Homework has finally been released! This children's book was illustrated by one of my favorite illustrators working today (and my good friend) Aaron Renier, and I did all of the coloring. Every single page of this book is jam packed with tons of detail and some really beautiful page layouts by Aaron. It's definitely worth picking up! It's available from Amazon.com and should be in books stores soon. Ask for it!

What Would Dumbledore Do?

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:32:00 +0000

The Harry Potter Alliance recently started a new campaign, called What Would Dumbledore Do? To help promote the WWDD? campaign, the HPA created a banner using one of my old illustrations of the greatest headmaster that Hogwarts has even known! The banner is posted above and the original watercolor illustration, which I painted for a Harry Potter fan art show at the Padlock Gallery, is below. Dumbledore is far and away my favorite character in the Harry Potter books, so it's a real honor for me to be a part of a campaign honoring his memory! The new Harry Potter movie comes out tonight at midnight, so I hope people have a Wizardly Week!

Custom Bicycle Helmet!

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 16:51:00 +0000

I have a few new illustrations in the works, so until those are ready to post I thought I'd show some photos of a custom bicycle helmet I recently painted for my friend Jon Chad. Jon is a great cartoonist and illustrator who rides his bike a lot, but didn't have a helmet, so I thought I'd try to make one SO COOL that he'd want to wear it. There are some photos below, and you can see more in my Flickr account.

Dark Horse Presents

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Wed, 06 May 2009 21:58:00 +0000

Above is the first panel of a new, full color, 8-page comic that I did for Dark Horse Presents. It just went up today, so please check it out! This story features my dragon character, which I have used in a number of self-promotional illustrations over the years. So you can finally see him in action!

I'm working on a lot of little illustration projects right now, so hopefully I will have some stuff to post on this blog during the summer. I'm also slowly but surely working on a redesign of my illustration portfolio site. So there is more on the way!

2009 Blogging Schedule

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 02:23:00 +0000

One of my goals for this year is to not stress out as much about my work. So with that in mind, I'm going to throw away my old system of posting here once a week (which was stressing me out plenty!) Instead I will post new illustrations or drawing challenges in this blog whenever I can. Sometimes I will post a lot. Other times not so much.

Okay! So here are a few drawings that I made for my girlfriend Rachel over the holidays, posted with her permission! The first is yet another cover image for a mixed CD I made her. (Hedgehogs are one of Rachel's favorite animals)
The other is an image drawn specifically to be used as a desktop image for Rachel's new computer. (Rachel's favorite holiday is Halloween). The chicken is dressed up as my dragon character, the snake is dressed up as Max from Spiral-Bound and the hedgehog is dressed up as Harry Potter (OF COURSE).
Alright, well, I hope you enjoyed these drawings. I'll update again as soon as I can!

Blogging Hiatus

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 00:45:00 +0000

I started this blog in January of this year. My goal was to post pictures of my latest illustrations every week, with the idea that it would generate interest in my illustrations and hopefully create some more freelance work for me. Well, it worked! I'm working on A LOT of different projects right now, and I've got some big deadlines looming on the horizon...

This past week, I have been trying to find ways to free up more time to work on these projects, and unfortunately I think a break in posting on this blog will do just that. I made it 43 weeks, posting regularly, and I would have loved to have made it to a full 52 weeks, but for now I need to buckle down and devote my time to projects that are on deadline.

I've also been thinking about the layout and content of this illustration portfolio site, which both need to be updated, so perhaps I will start posting in this blog again once I revamp the site a bit. Until then, I appreciate your patience!

100 Watercolors #9: Drive

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 03:42:00 +0000

Oof, last week's watercolor ended up being kind of depressing, so I was determined to have a little bit more fun this week. Mission accomplished! I'm working on a children's book featuring this here dragon, so I might use him as a reoccurring character in these watercolors, as a chance to draw him more.

I'm still learning a lot each time I do one of these paintings. I can't imagine how much knowledge I will have gained after the next 91 of them!

100 Watercolors #8: Innocence

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 04:31:00 +0000

For the last few weeks I have been trying to come up with a good image for the theme of innocence. I went through three pages of ideas in my sketchbook but nothing seemed to quite sit. Then this morning, this image popped into my head. In the morning I thought it was great, in the afternoon I thought it was too confusing, and now I don't know what to think! Either way, it was good to break out the watercolors again. I'll try to keep these going in the coming weeks!

Vermont Institute of Natural Science sketches

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 04:05:00 +0000

This week I am working on a big batch of one-panel gags, and my first full page comic for Nickelodeon Magazine. Unfortunately, because of contractual restrictions, I cannot post those illustrations in this blog. So instead, I thought I'd show a few drawings I did this week in my sketchbook.

One of the great perks of being a fellow at The Center for Cartoon Studies, is that I am allowed to sit in on any class. I can also tag along on field trips, as I did this week, when Steve Bissette took his Drawing Workshop class to the Vermont Institute of Natural Science to draw real live birds of prey! These are birds who have been injured and cannot be returned to nature. Some of them were quite large, and it was really amazing to see them up close. I also took some notes about some of the things we learned, so make sure to click on the images below to see the larger versions.

This American Kestrel had imprinting problems (it saw a human when it was a baby bird, so now it thinks it is a human!) It did a lot of squawking, and also it can see in the ultraviolet spectrum (?!) It was definitely my favorite bird.

I also really liked these owls. They made the most beautiful "WOO" sounds, and the Horned Owl even horked out a pellet while we were drawing it!

Next week I should be back to the watercolor challenge. Until then!

Screen Printing: Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Sat, 11 Oct 2008 05:22:00 +0000

Okay, FINALLY, here are the results from my very first screen printing project! Each year The Center for Cartoon Studies makes a "Facebook" for the new batch of first year students. Each student (and Fellows, like me!) creates a self-portrait which they screen print with two colors on cardstock. Then all of the portraits are assembled into a book!

I have resisted learning screen printing for years now, because I thought it might tempt me into making screen printed covers for my minicomics (which would only take LONGER to make). Well, I can now safely say that such a thing will never happen. Because it is SOOOO much work to create a screen printed image! I'm glad I learned how, but I'll be surprised if I use this technology again while I am at CCS... I will say that I now have a much greater appreciation for screen printed comics!

Anyway, as you can probably tell here, I printed the red layer first and then the brown layer on top. There were only so many paper colors to choose from, so I chose yellow, to keep things warm. The image represents a sort of "before" and "after" comparison for how I will look this year! I made 60 copies, which was enough to bruise and blister my hands. I've got a few more images to make for the book, and then I'm probably going to hang up my screen for a good long while!

Rachel CD cover

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 03:12:00 +0000

Whoops! I wasn't able to find an internet connection this weekend at The Small Press Expo so I am a little late in posting.

This illustration is a cover for a mixed CD of Harry and the Potters songs that I made for Rachel. Back in May, Rachel and I went to see a free HATP show at the main branch of the New York Public Library, which was pretty epic (they had a HORN section!) There were two people dancing around in lion suits (as Patience and Fortitude) and Rachel also screwed up her ankle that night, which is all pictured here. The title is a play on words, spoofing Brad Neely's brilliant Wizard People, Dear Readers. Inside jokes abound!

I've got a few things in the works... so I will definitely have some stuff to post next weekend - on time!

100 Watercolors #7: Heaven

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 22:54:00 +0000

Did I say I was going to post my first screen print this week? Whoops! That process is taking a bit longer than I thought it would, so in the meantime, here is Watercolor #7! I'm not sure this one makes PERFECT sense... but every time I look at it, it makes me chuckle, so that's good enough for me!

I'm going to out of town next weekend at the Small Press Expo in Washington D.C. so we'll see what happens... I'll post something!

Screen Printing: Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 03:38:00 +0000

This week at CCS I will be learning how to screen print. This will be my first time ever, so I am pretty excited! Our first project is to create a "Facebook" for the new class. Each new student (and the Fellows) will have a photocopied bio on one page, and on the other we get to have a two-color screen-printed self portrait. My design is above, which shows how I started the school year, and how I will most likely end it, with my Basewood Beard.

Next week I'll post the finished image. Wish me luck!

100 Watercolors #6: Break Away

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 03:29:00 +0000

I had a lot of fun with this one. And as predicted, I am learning a lot by working on these watercolors. Hooray for art challenges!

Top Secret Illustration

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:30:00 +0000

I didn't have time to paint another theme this week, so instead I'm posting this illustration I have been working on, from a top secret project that I have not yet "officially" announced. Some of you might be able to guess what this is... I'll let the cat out of the bag over on my other blog, probably within a week or two!

100 Watercolors #5: Seeking Solace

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 02:47:00 +0000

Well, I'm back in Vermont, and so it's back to the 100 Watercolors challenge! I've got one new illustration project in the works, but I'll probably keep going on these watercolors for the next couple of weeks at least. See you next week for theme number six!

Two New Alecs

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 19:16:00 +0000

If you have ever checked the homepage of my other website, you might have noticed that I have a few different variations on the drawing of myself, so that I can adjust it accordingly, depending on what's going on in my life at the moment. This week I drew two new variations of myself!

One has much shorter hair (and shorts as well!) I recently cut off all of my hair, and my plan is to never cut it again, until my graphic novel Basewood is complete! I guess I'll have to draw some new variations of myself every few months, to keep up with my hair growth.

The other one is a new rain drawing. The old one showed me in my red and blue raincoat, but now I am the proud owner of a DRAGON Rain Coat! This one is a lot more fun. :)

Well, I will be back in Vermont for next week's post, so I suspect I will dive back in on the 100 Watercolors challenge. Until then!

Robin's Nest

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Sat, 16 Aug 2008 20:02:00 +0000

This week I'm taking another short break from the 100 Watercolors to show this spot illustration I just finished. It will be used on a Baby Shower invitation, for a woman named Robin (of course!) My instructions were to make the robin plump and cute.

I'm off to Seattle for a week to visit my family and to attend a wedding. So next week's post will be from the road. Until then!

100 Watercolors #4: Dark

noreply@blogger.com (Alec Longstreth) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 23:24:00 +0000

Here is this week's watercolor! I guess it is kind of similar to last week's painting, though the emphasis is reversed...

In other news, I've finished lettering the forthcoming French edition of PHASE 7. I'm also working on another small illustration project, which I will share eventually. Until then!