In Defense of a Broken Heart

Preview of a new piece

It's been quite a while since I've updated, huh? Summer went by very fast, working nonstop and not having much time to produce anything, aside from the occasional printing and shipping of an order (thanks for the support!)

Anyways, here's a new piece I've been working on the past few days entitled "A Knight's Job is Never Done":


I wanted to make a very fanciful and bright piece but with some personal meaning as well. It's about being stupid and trying to save someone at the risk of your own well-being, when the situation is too dire. Another words, still trying to save the girl when it's too late. I think a lot of folks could relate to that. Right?

The piece is nearing completion and prints will be available for sale at the first annual ART ATTACK art and music festival taking place October 23rd in Victory Park, Manchester NH. (more info available on facebook)

Will post the finished version once it is done.

Hope all is well :)

Evan

Newport Folk Festival!

So the Newport Folk Festival was this last weekend and Old Blue did so well! I thank all of those who supported us not only with purchases but also with kind words. There's nothing like knowing other people truly enjoy your work. It makes it all worth it.

Currently working on finishing up www.ewbenoit.com

and also working on getting some kind of an online store going..

peace, love and chicken grease. or whatever.

-Evan

The Past Presents the Present

A piece I recently created entitled "The Past v. Present". Kind of a look at how simplified and streamlined things have become, both from an industrial and technological standpoint. I'll be selling prints of this at Newport.

Evan

Accordion Man Strikes Again

For Newport I wanted to have at least one piece that was SUPER kitschy and retro, so I brought back the Accordion Man for one last romp through the wild world of whateverIdon'tfeellikefinishingthissentence.

a work in progress.

So I'm working on this piece and it's not done yet, but I figured I'd update this thing finally.


It's entitled "Hyde and seek". Because it's Dr. Jekyll running from Mr. Hyde. .

... Get it?

yeah?

sigh.

Anyways, it's roughly 19x29, though it will also be available at around 11x17..ish.

I wanted Hyde to be much more monstrous simply because it'd be more fun to illustrate. The piece will probably be done within a week or so.. still figuring out how much information I want to have in the background.

More to come!

Evan

New Work Soon!...ish!

Graduation and the post-graduation lethargy has kicked in and I haven't done much lately!

However, I will be doing some new work in the next few weeks including an album cover for a band, pixel art for a video game and some finished work for Newport.

But in the meantime, here's a poster project from senior study this last year:


-Evan

Old Blue invades Newport, RI!

As I stated before, two pals and myself got a booth at the Newport Folk Festival selling prints of our work. I'm starting to work on some pieces for this show and I've been doodling ideas of a deer with trees for antlers.. I've been coming up with designs of the deer in various stages from spring to fall. This is the first rough that I've actually put on the computer and messed around with. I want to try and work a little more with some line-work, yet not lose my simple and shape-driven aesthetic. Like I said, this is a super rough drawing, just playing around with the idea a bit. I'm not sure if I want to push the line-work even more, or if I want to remove even more of it. Anyways, just thought I'd throw something up.. its been a while!

Evan

an orphan

This is a piece I started but never finished. I definitely ran out of steam. I loved the look I was getting but for some reason I had lost that creative spark. It happens.


In other news, getting stuff printed and ready for the senior show is actually becoming quite a formidable foe. Some of my prints are coming out way too dark, it's a pain in the ass. But I guess that's the kind of disconnect you have to deal with when you work digitally. Getting them mounted on foamcore is ultimately super affordable, but having to hand cut each piece down to size is starting to give me the jitters. Maybe I'll be able to use the matte cutting room at school.

Glad school is done!

Evan

The Blind Men and the Elephant.

These are some finished spreads from my Children's Book class. It was pretty fun but in the end these were kind of rushed. But hey, that's part of life, isn't it?







The story in question is about six blind Indian men who try to find out what an elephant is like, through various means. In the end we all learn a nice lesson about compromising. Or something.

-Evan

the happenings in the life of Mr. Benoit

My last official day as a collegiate art nerd is this upcoming friday. I'm pretty excited and nervous, all at once. The big things going on soon after are as follows:

-Building my frankesteinian website, www.ewbenoit.com and bring it to life.
-Mounting and hanging my pieces for the senior show at NHIA
-Creating more work, specifically in time to be sold at the Newport Folk Festival. Me and some pals are hopefully going to have a booth there selling prints. More info here.
-Working on the ongoing "Let's All Go to the Lobby" project.
-Bulking up my portfolio, starting the job hunt!
- Oh yeah, graduating.

There's always so much to do and no time in which to do it!

-Evan

a nautical style posting of images and such

These are two images I've recently finished, one is a mailer and the other is a fictitious gig poster for a pretty great band named Islands. Enjoy!







-Evan

Roughs for a mailer

So I'm working on a mailer for promotional purposes and I have some roughs done. Lately I've been toying with the idea of using a some line work in my pieces and this is my first real delve into that. Two color comps:



So yeah. I mean, the drawing was just a quick self-portrait in graphite, for the final I think I may use ink. I'm also not entirely sold on the text placement either. The back is going to have a smaller black and white version of the same portrait but with a little something.... extra.







Evan

comp for a new project

for my next senior studio project, I've decided to take on the band Mount Eerie (formally known as the Microphones). Mount Eerie makes claustrophobic yet expansive experimental folk music that sounds rough and flat yet grandiose. It's hard to describe. Anyways, here we are:

40 Day Dream.

My spring break has not been the most fruitful so far but I have been working a little bit. This is a rough comp. of a new project, one that I'm hoping to actually get screen-printed:




I'm still tinkering with all of the design elements etc etc. but I figured I'd slap up here for the whole of the internets to laugh at it.

EDIT: I've exchanged the old version with the finished image. I decided to go with a more expanded palette because I tend to always work with a very limited one, so I wanted to challenge myself a bit. In my haste I forgot to save it for the web so the quality is quite horrid. Some day soon I'll fix that, too busy right now!

Oh yeah! And I also have the (mostly) finished front of my mailer, featuring the young fellow playing the accordion:





-Evan

a work in progress!

A character I'm designing for a self-promotional mailer. This is him at conception:



and this is him all grown up:



Not finished yet, but it's a start.

I'm in a children's book class right now and it has gotten me to start being a lot more playful in regards to the figure.. more to come... forrrr sure.

-Evan

MONSTERS!!!

So some fellow illustrators and I are doing a zine of monsters called "Spirit Guide". The zine is going to be 5.5x8.5 and in black and white. My monsters of choice are the Yeti, Sasquatch and the Leviathan. This first one I'm posting is the Yeti.



I decided to take this time to work very simply and in straight grayscale.

This barn's a burnin'

This is an in-progress piece, I mean I guess you could say it's done but I feel like it's missing.. 'something', y'know? This is another fictional poster I created.. but this one was for a concert I actually went to. It was a pretty special night being that the lead singer/songwriter grew up in NH and this was his first show here.

This is a temporary space.

Quite literally! Kind of.

I'm an illustration major at the New Hampshire Institute of Art, about to graduate and sail ceaselessly into the wind, towards that green light. Or something. Anyways, this blog is just kind of a way for me to post some of my work and thoughts, or something. I will hopefully have a website up and running by May, but that will fully depend upon the weight of my wallet (which by my estimations will be very very VERY light by then).

I might actually keep this once I have my legitimate website up and running..who knows.

Goodnight...... and.....

good luck.

-Evan