WSU Currents Magazine

cover image - ink, acrylic, digital - 8.5"X11" - 2009

I was asked by the awesome Brett Ayers to do some work for the Winona State University alumni magazine, "Currents." I worked on a bunch of illustrations for this one, including a cover, 1/2 page interior, and several spot images. And boy do these guys love their purple...

"Alumni in the Classroom" ink, acrylic, digital - 6"X 6" - 2009

Interior Spot Illustrations - ink, acrylic, digital- 6"X 6" - 2009

Here are some pics of the interior:

I had a lot of fun with this project, and am stoked to start on the next issue soon!

Oodles and oodles has occurred in the past few months, so here's a few updates (or at least excuses to why I haven't posted in so long!)

- Studio Sunday is having it's debut exibit "The Legend of En" opening reception on August 28th from 6-10pm at The Borg Ward collective! We've been working on this show for SOOO long, and it's going to be FLAMES!! Tell your friends! There will also be an after-party at The Bomb Shelter!

The Borg Ward
823 west National avenue
Milwaukee, Wisconsin 53204

-I'll be joining my fellow Studio Sunday-ers at the Alternative Press Expo at the Lovesick Robot Press table. It's not until October, but if you do happen to be in San Fransisco around then, come say 'ello!

- Starting in August, I will be a full time designer for Brew City, a rad apparel company in Milwaukee! Super excited to work with these guys, especially their insanely talented lead designer Boris Pelcer -old school mate from MIAD!

- I will be having an exhibition in January at Hot Pop in Milwaukee!

BAD WINTER

It's about time I get around to posting the pictures/work from my first solo show at FASTEN collective (now known as SPARROW collective). The opening was on Gallery Night in Milwaukee, one of three nights every year where many of the city's galleries and shops have little art parties, which collectively mean one big city wide art-gasm! Here are some photos of the installation:

These drawings were, for me, completely different from what I had been working on for the last four years of art school. Instead of depicting a narrative, I wanted to capture how I had been feeling for the past months. The drawings are cold and representational, but there are certain moments in each that become slightly more shape driven and abstract; for the most part, I referenced quick, bad digital photos taken while walking to and from work.

Mandujano - graphite on Rives BFK - 2009

Triangle - graphite on Rives BFK - 2009


K.K. - graphite on Rives BFK - 2009


Greeley - graphite on Rives BFK - 2009


Clarence - graphite on Rives BFK - 2009


Burrel - graphite on Rives BFK - 2009

Bad Winter- graphite on Rives BFK - 2009


Austin- graphite on Rives BFK - 2009

For the show, I made a little booklet of the drawings and the comic:

It was interesting to see how the comic is experienced both on an intimate level in the book, and on a large scale in the show. The comic and the drawings are very different, but together they express a complete thought, the narrative and non-narrative balance each other out (in my head, at least).

And here's some photos of all you lovely people who came to see the show (you really came!)

mike and beki


jerod and little ms. adeline




Carl and Cynthia


it's Joan!



it's Beki!


Jackie Steffen-Bublitz


Greg of Francis Dav Fem provided audio stimulation.

A shout out to Jessica and Jerod for the opportunity and printing action! Also to Jackie, Brent and Tara for critiques and wood shop classes.

NEW STUFF:

A lot has been going on in the weeks since the show:

The kind folks at Illustrophile featured me on their fantastic blog! Thanks guys!

Studio Sunday is in full on production mode for our show in August at The Borg Ward.

Recently finished some work for the Milwaukee Fair Trade Coalition's Fair Trade Crawl.

Working on a new assignment for WSU Currents magazine (this is gonna be a big one!)

Working on brochure illustration for the Milwaukee 48 Hour Film Fest

Orlando and I drove down to Chicago to hang out with Meg and check out Art Chicago.


Will keep you posted on developments of these new projects! Thanks for reading!

We Blend Comic

Check it, son!




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Comic progress!

WEBSITE UNDER CONSTRUCTION

My portfolio website, www.chrismacstudio.com is being revamped! If you need to contact me, feel free to drop me an email at ctophermac@gmail.com
thanks for your patience!

My goodness, comics are hard/awesome. I started these 4 pages months ago to get some fresh samples for an editor. They just got agonizingly dragged out, too many revisions. But, finally, I have gotten to these final inks which I'm pretty psyched about! I still have a lot of work left to do on them though!

I am including this in an upcoming SOLO SHOW at Fasten design collective here in Milwaukee! Curated by the lovely Papavier, the show will be a series of drawings and comics about my life post graduation. There will be an opening reception on April 19th, the big summer Gallery Night! More info on this soon! Here's a sneak peak:

Seth Rogan - and other stuff

tight sketch - graphite - 9"X12" - 2009

"Seth Rogan" - ink, acrylic - 9.5"X12.5" - 2009

Here's a quick painting - a gift for my roomy! The ladies and I love us some Seth Rogan movies, and I've always wanted to draw his goofy, enebriated smile. I has this sketch hanging around for a while, so I was glad to put it to use. Hurrah belated Christmas presents!

I've been working so much in ink and pencil for the last few months, it felt great to bust out a finished full farbe piece. I wanted to explore a more rendered approach to my quick ink studies as seen in my Characters book, how would the more cartoony impressions look in a more finished state?

A little over a month ago my friends at Lovesick Robot (husband and wife team Brent and Jackie) and I along with fellow MIAD grad Tara Borger started our very own illustration collective called Studio Sunday! We meet several times a week to work on group projects as well as get feedback on our own work. Currently we are concepting an installation based on our very own fairy tale - hopefuly the project will materialize in a local gallery in the coming months. We have also nearly completed an illustrated promo calendar! Jackie keeps the website updated quite often, so check it out to see what shenanigans are cooking.

In other news I am full steam ahead on some personal projects! My friend Jessica over at Papavier asked me to put together a solo show at Fasten, a local design collective, boutique and gallery. I'll keep you updated!

2 Days Home / New Work

I love Minnesota. It's awesome. You should go there sometime.

This was my first time home in quite some time - my folks have completely remodeled the house I grew up in, and yet it still feels as cozy as it always has - just an additional two fireplaces, a jacuzzi, a massive flat screen TV and Blu-ray player (way to go Dad)!

It was a nice break, albeit short lived, from my hellish full-time job, but I made the most of it. There were many nature hikes, cups of coffee, late night burgers at Perkins with friends, and family poker games. I also stopped by my buddy Brett's office at Circle Six Design - always cool to see the crazy stuff he's working on!

In other news, I've been working away in the studio on some new stuff, much of it is in the early stages, but I'll keep ya'll updated. I've also been reading a LOT of comics... someday I want to do a post about all the stuff I read, music I listen to, etc - but that's for another day.

For now, here are some random fun projects I've recently finished:

"HOME" - album artwork

ver.1 ver.2

My Dad's Jazz Ensemble is releasing this CD this week of jazz standards and some original compositions, I was asked to the the cover and interior booklet art. We decided that the first version I completed focused a little too much on the album title, and also cramped the scenery. Thus we ended up deciding on version 2. That rocky formation in the background is sugar loaf, Winona's very own epic rock outcrop.

interior art - ink, digital - 2008

I had A LOT of fun working on the interior art. We wanted to think of something that represented each individual of the ensemble while still fitting into the theme, and having enough room for the text. I have always marveled at the variety of shoes in the world, and I loved the idea that each pair could say a little something about it's owner. It was interesting making a list of each student and trying to find the best "fit", har har!

Another of my Dad's students did the type treatment, and I'm really pumped to see how it all turned out!

My good friend Meg's sister Tish is a world class boxer about to turn professional. To celebrate this milestone, She and her family asked me to make a design for a screen-printed t shirt of a boxing peanut with her nickname "Cacahuate."

Interestingly enough, we will probably be going with the initial sketch instead of my final art pictured above. It's interesting how some clients prefer the rawness of the sketch to the final art, and I'm working on having my final pieces have that same energy.

My uncle Brad has an insane collection of spiders, butterflies and other fun stuff. He preserves them and makes these fantastic display sculptures. He requested I make a drawing of a Tiger Beetle head.

For those of you who don't know, tiger beetles are RAD. For reals. I did this drawing in exchange for some cheesy fantasy posters that are now hanging up in my apartment - thanks Brad!