here are a few pieces from my visual journalism class last semester. visual journalism was something i had never heard of prior to CCA. sad to say it seems to be relatively unknown as a class, but i have a wonderful teacher who has kept it alive and reminds us all how important it is, to illustration, art and life in general. it is important – this reality based illustration that is driven by the world around the artist and “getting the story” as any good journalist would do. the way barron teaches and the way he sees the world reminds me why i love art – his definition of illustration is so different from most, but i feel like it’s the truest definition there is. its not tight, perfectly rendered, i-slaved-over-this-in-a-studio-for-40-hours-and-didn’t-see-the-light-for-2-days kind of illustration – its reflective, emotional, ENERGETIC reactions to the world around us.

“this is not time to be practicing our cute animal drawing skills!” – barron on our san francisco zoo trip. that may have been directed at me, hahaha. but really, his reasoning is very sophisticated – many times we tend to zero in or focus on one thing – not the big picture. “i’m at a zoo, so i will draw some cute animals”. once you include the whole picture, there are things that will jump out at you. things that are interesting, ironic, informative or just have really beautiful compositions. this class changed the way that i see the world – the world is STRANGE, ironic, amusing, beautiful, sad….reality IS interesting if we simply open our eyes to see it. thank you barron!!

from the tenderloin. if you’re not familiar with the tenderloin district of sf, its a very diverse, energetic, crowded, ok kind of dirty, downtown neighborhood. its the heart of the city… there are lots of artists, writers and students here because rent is sliiiiiightly cheaper than everywhere else, however this is due to high numbers of homeless people that also call the tenderloin home. its the “bum discount” if you will. its where i live and i love it. most of the homeless people are harmless but also most likely insane so it keeps things interesting….never a dull day in the tl!
on a side note, i found the carboard i painted that on innnn….the tenderloin! danun! perfect!

from the california academy of sciences. there was a sign by the door behind the dinosaur bones that said “out of order”….poor dino!

a bus stop around the civic center, this old tourist lady was holding a map and looking lost and i swear the pigeons knew it!

if youre not familiar with barrons work, you should be!

http://www.barronstorey.com/

http://barronstorey.blogspot.com/