life is in tents

i live on the sedge.

[emilybenning]

Moving on!

If you’re looking to follow along on my shenanigans going forward, check out our shiny new website at http://typetwofundamentals.com/! Illustrations, photos, and a bunch of stupidity in a boat.

[emilybenning]

You’re still here? Cool. You’re in luck: at the end of the month, Security Steve and I are departing on an extended canoe tour of the Delaware River, so I’m firing the dirtbag blog back up.

You may be asking: who is Security Steve? Do you actually know anything about canoeing? Didn’t you get a “REAL” job?

Stay tuned.

[thishartominefeelz]

❤️ repost if you would do the same #lovetrumpshate

[emilybenning]

I ran out of money, dropped out of art school, and had to quit my awesome nonprofit job to work for a ski resort so I could have health care. I console myself by making elaborate birthday cards for friends while I'm at work.

[emilybenning]

Sometimes you just have to draw your boss as Henry VIII.

[echoboots]

Please do me a favor and reblog or like this post if you are a cis person who feels 100% okay about sharing restrooms, changing rooms, and other public spaces with folks who are trans.

(Sometimes I don’t know how to help the folks in my life who are trans and have to put up with bigoted shit like this all the time, but I thought seeing lots of notes on this post might help at least a tiny bit.)

[jimberkeley]

Bluebird/Redbird

[emilybenning]

Preview of an image that's going in the Green Mountain Club's Long Trail newsletter this spring. It'll be part of an advertisement for used vehicle donations, since our fleet is... well, it's all pretty much in the condition of the rig in the picture.

Hat tip to the roommates (or, as Justin affectionately refers to them, "the Tribe") for their unwitting participation in this project.

[emilybenning]

Sometimes I remember at the last possible moment that I have to design a cover for my end-of-semester portfolio CD. That's when things like this happen. 

[emilybenning]

Oh hey wow it's finals week and I'm posting at 4:30AM because I've been awake all night coloring. AWESOMESAUCE. At least we have a queue of Disney movies up on the studio projector, no shame, and a fondness for spontaneously busting out in song. (By "spontaneously" I mean "through the entirety of Mulan" or "whenever someone puts on a song from Frozen".)

Redesign of the Wicked Witch of the West for Advanced Illustration. Pen and ink, colored digitally.

[emilybenning]

We were assigned a triptych in my watercolor class... and this happened. I read an article about Anne Bonny and Mary Read recently, and I think I'm on a tentacle kick these days, and frak the patriarchy and whatnot. 

The actual paintings are pretty large (11x16") and I swore like a pirate during most of the process due to being cursed with incredibly crappy masking fluid. Nothing hurts my soul like little shreds of your watercolor paper ripping off in places where I want a smooth wash. 

Anyways. Ladypirates. Boom. 

[42g33ks]

[punkryuki]

no one twerks like gaston

makes it work like gaston

no one drops down dat booty and jerks like gaston

He be up in the club with that ass gyrating,

My, he so fly, dat Gaston

This speaks to me on a personal level.

[emilybenning]

watercolor self portraits

my painting I class was assigned a self portrait project. i missed the memo that they were supposed to be at least vaguely based in reality, so mine looked a little out of place among the head shots. 

this class is a mixed bag for me; i love watercolor, but for most of my illustrations i then scan them and edit them digitally to fix the smeary bits. we're not allowed to do that for painting class, which is fine (traditional art skills blah blah) but it's definitely upped my profanity count for the semester.

[emilybenning]

thumbelina

each of us was assigned a hans christian andersen fairy tale and tasked with creating a full-page illustration and a smaller spot illustration. here's my full page:

and here's the spot:

we also had the option of "editing" the story. i altered mine so thumbelina doesn't just sit around crying all the time while various people try to marry her; she plays a bit more of an active role toward the end, and declines the fairy king's marriage offer in favor of going out for a coffee and getting to know him a little first. they may or may not end up getting hitched eventually, but they definitely live happily ever after.

[emilybenning]

word of the week

my advanced illustration class gets a word every week to produce an image for. this one was "viscous". 

bonus points if you get the science reference.

[emilybenning]

welcome to the dork side

these are some characters from an editorial illustration i did for class; the article was about finding acceptance in the nerd community.

and here's a shot of the whole two-page layout; if you want to read the actual essay in a font size that doesn't look like it was written by an ant, go to thisibelieve.org and search for the title. if you're the montana from colorado that wrote it, you should email me.

it's worth noting that my "visual research" for this project involved re-watching the original trilogy and spending several hours on the internet google image searching "bad star wars cosplay". which is EPIC, if you've never done it.

[emilybenning]

Nerdoween

we were strongly encouraged to dress up for school on halloween, since as art students we bring our A game when it comes to costumes.

scrub pants: $5. uggly slippers: $5. fake shearling snuggie: $2. hours spent watching "how to use poi" tutorials on youtube: 4. interior decorations broken while practicing my bending in the house: 3.

spending the day dressed up as a cartoon character chasing people across campus while screaming "I'M THE AVATAR, YOU'VE GOTTA DEAL WITH IT!": priceless.

(coworker kevin was like "why are you korra? you're like, really white" and i was like "god, kevin, you can't just ask people why they're WHITE.")

some of us struggled with the costume thing more than others. sorry for laughing at you so much, jeanna; you know i love you.

(wrong-size zentai suit Nightwing is the angriest Nightwing)