Inspiration

Here are some of the artists who have influenced my body of work (in its final, resolved form) for this show the most:

Charles Burns:
The first comic I ever read by Burns was Black Hole, which is all about high school drama and creepy alien STDs. I love his slick, precise style of inking and all of the weird creepy stuff he throws into his comics (which I really need to read more of...)

Sophie Campbell:

I fell in love with Campbell's series Wet Moon way back in high school. It was the perfect combination of slice of life and weirdo small town/Twins Peaks style horror. Plus her art is gorgeous! Now she's been working on mainly licensed comics (and kicking butt at them) but I hope she returns to indie comics one day.

Bernie Wrightson:

Wrightson is the only artist here whose work I haven't read. He got his start doing horror comics but eventually left to pursue illustration (also because he wanted his work to remain in black and white but his publishers would wreck his lifework with color). I found a poster of one of his illustrations from Frankenstein and I was hooked! What amazing composition and inking. I really ought to track down a copy of Frankenstein with his work in it...

(the fateful image itself!)

Art tips and an awesome game!

One of the best pieces of advice I ever got for making art was to have something playing in the background, whether it be music, a podcast, or a silly tv show that you aren't too attached to. I find it helps me know how long I've been working, lets me pace myself well (aka I don't get caught up working on a single corner of a picture for hours), and makes you feel like you have some company if you're working alone! Plus it's a bit easier for me to get in "the zone" when I have music to distract part of my brain. I don't always have music playing and in fact it can sometimes be a distraction but most of the time I love working to it.

One of my favorite things to listen to while I work is let's plays! They don't take up a lot of your attention like a television show might and it's like listening to a podcast but with visuals. And I get to review potential games before I buy them!

The Wolf Among Us is the game I was watching most recently and it looks so cool! The story is really good and it's so beautiful! I may have to study its art style for some future inspiration...

This is the let's play I've been watching:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vkLPqO4B7FI&index=1&list=PL9TOK99LnYFeg1D-Xs1-qOgpASkXLv2Lv

So close and yet so far

I feel like I'm about 95% done with my works for the big show but I still have some minor adjustments to make...

Still working...

Partway through shading!

Awesome Painting Videos!

I've been watching a lot of speed paint videos on youtube as inspiration for this and future projects. I just love watching other artists work; there's something about it that's just so reassuring and makes me feel connected to all of the other creative people out there in the world. Gouache and marker videos are what I have mainly been focusing on, as they are the two mediums I am currently trying to get the hang of! Here are some especially good videos I've found:

Progress!

Revised Artist Statement

Here's my (hopefully) final, polished draft of my artist statement for my show in May! I combined my two proposal ideas into one that is, in my opinion, stronger than the sum of its parts. What do you all think? (It's in third person, which may seem a bit strange, but it's a pretty useful trick to use when trying to get out of your own head to write about yourself!)

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Mary Claire Rooney’s artwork focuses on humanity’s search for satisfaction and the pull between a person’s desires and fears. Her latest series of drawings is based around the idea of a girl going on a late night snack run who runs into a series of strange events that prevent her from  accomplishing her goal. The girl’s search for food is stymied by the unnerving events that she encounters during the “witching hour” of the night, forcing her to go on a hunt which never reaches its conclusion.

The central idea for this body of work came from Rooney’s experiences as a college student. She would often  stay up late to finish schoolwork and strives to emulate the unsettling, dream-like world that she experienced around 3:00 am in her works. Rooney’s drawings place more emphasis on the hunt itself rather than the goal at the end of the search. This reflects Rooney’s personal ideas on life: we are always searching for something and it will never truly end.

Rooney has always loved comic books and that style of illustrative, sequential storytelling informs her artwork. Her subject matter is informed by Charles Burns’ grotesquely beautiful illustrations while the dreamy yet sharp style of her work is influenced by Sophia Campbell’s art style. Each piece in her series of drawings tells its own self contained story while also functioning as a moment in a larger narrative structure.